THE 

LIFE 



OF 



ULRICH ZWINGLE, 

THE 

SWISS REFORMER. 

BY 

/. G. HESS, 



TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH, 
BY 

LUCY AIKIN. 



LONDON: 

PRINTED lOR J.JOHNSON AND CO, 
ST. PAULS CHURCH-YARD. 

18Pi. 






T. T^fnsUv, Printgr, 
Unit Court, Fleet Streit, L^ntleti' 



A UT FIORDS PREFACE. 



1 HE reformation of the sixteenth century, 
which separated a great part of Christendom 
from the Romish Church, whether its 
causes or its consequences are examined, 
may he regarded as one of the most in- 
teresting events of modern history. 

Some individuals, of obscure birth, un- 
dertake to change the rehgious opinions of 
their contemporaries: habit, the veneration 
of the multitude for all that is ancient, and 
a thousand different interests, oppose ob- 



IV 

stacks to them which would appear invin- 
cible — yet they surmount them with no 
other assistance than that derived from 
their own talents and courage. Docile to 
the voice of the reformers, whole nations 
desert the worship of their fathers; they 
reject dogmas long revered, and refuse to 
obey the decrees of that spiritual power 
which for a long series of ages had held 
dominion over consciences. Arts, letters, 
manners and politics, feel the effects of 
this violent shock; and a dispute which 
might at first have appeared interesting 
only to theologians, produces a moral revo- 
lution, the influence of which extends over 
the civilised world. 

The opinions of the reformers were 
alternately attacked and defended with 



equal obstinacy and equal vehemence. On 
both sides there were men who forgot 
what is due to decency, justice, and cha- 
rity, and gave themselves up to a culpable 
violence of passion. Ambition and re- 
venge, taking advantage of the general 
irritation, excited bloody w^ars, and per- 
petuated the animosity of the two parties. 
Ages have been requisite to efface the re- 
membrance of the evils caused by these re- 
ligious dissensions, to pacify men's minds, 
and to enable the voice of moderation to 
be heard. Time and the progress of 
knowledge have produced this happy 
change. Catholics and protestants have 
learned to do justice to each other; they 
acknowledge that men may be sincerely 
attached to each mode of faith, and that 
virtue mav subsist under eaclL 



VI 



France has suffered more than any 
other country, by intolerance and the fury 
of fanaticism. Formerly rent by factions 
which borrowed the name of rehgion to 
justify their excesses, and tormented by 
factions that disturbed her prosperity, she 
for a long time afterwards saw a portion of 
her inhabitants stripped of their rights, and 
deprived of the exercise of their worship. 
At the present day, the protestant, reassum- 
ing the character of a citizen, may pub- 
licly profess his opinions; and wise laws, 
dictated by the greatest monarch of Europe, 
confirm the peace between the two christian 
communities, secure liberty of conscience, 
and banish those distinctions which recal 
the memory of ancient enmities. Thanks 
to these principles of tolerance, it is now 
permitted to depict the authors of the re- 



Vll 

formation in the colours in which they 
appeared to their partisans; that is, as men 
of great energy, full of enthusiasm for 
what they believed true and just, and en- 
tirely devoted to the cause which they had 
embraced. 

The reformer whose life will here be 
read, enjoys less celebrity than Luther and 
Calvin; either because his life is not con- 
nected with great political events, or be- 
cause his disciples have not been designated 
by his name. Yet was he inferior to nei- 
ther of them in talents or in knowledge. 
Coeval with Luther, and older than Calvin 
he was indebted for his opinions to no one, 
but raised himself above his age by the 
liberality of his own ideas. The circum- 
stances which contributed to give a new 



Vlll 

direction to his mind, and the means that 
he employed to induce his fellow-citizens 
to adopt his system, appeared to me a sub- 
ject capable of exciting interest. I have 
endeavoured to treat it in such a manner 
as to place the character and conduct of 
Z^^ringle in their true light: if I have suc- 
ceeded, the reader, whatever may be his 
own faith, will certainly be unable to refuse 
him his esteem. 



TRANSLATORS PREFACE. 



The merit of Zwingle, and the general 
reasons that may render his biography an 
object of attention, the reader will find 
sufficiently explained in the simple and 
candid preface of M. Hess himself. His 
translator will therefore confine herself to 
a few remarks on the particular circum- 
stances which impart an incidental interest 
to the work here ofi'ered to an English 
public. In the present scantiness of our 
information respecting the internal con- 
dition of France, a document tending to^ 



throw light upon the state of religion in 
that country will not be regarded with 
indifference. 

It will be recollected, that the prodi- 
gious extension of territory which compre- 
hended Switwerland and part of Germany 
within the limits of France, compelled 
its ruler to sanction the establishment of 
three different forms of Christianity A^ithin 
his empire; consequently, we can no longer 
be surprised to receive from the Paris press, 
w^orks, which could formerly only haxe 
issued from those of Holland or Geneva; 
biit it may be matter of satisfaction to ob- 
serve, that the reformed are actually avail- 
ino; themselves of the rio-hts which thev 
have acquired, and that some compensation 
is thus made for the loss of independence 
of those once celebrated asylums of learn- 
ing and free speculation. 



XI 

Keen ridicule of the doctrines and cere- 
monies of popery was often connived at 
under the indulgent inspectorship of the 
virtuous Malesherbes, and the lax admi- 
nista'ation of the last of the Bourbons : the 
*' life of Zwingle " may prove that a sober 
exposure of its errors and abuses is openly 
permitted under the strict and scrutinising 
government of Napoleon. The latter 
mode of attack, upon what was then the 
onlv established rcliQ-ion, would scarcely 
have been allowed under the old order of 
things; the formeY may pcrliaps be for- 
bidden at present: no doubt religion is a 
gainer by the change. 

Zwingle departed more widely in doc- 
trine from the Romish church, than either 
of the eminent reform. ers whose churches 
are now estabhshed in France; yet M. Hess 
may give his system to the public without 



Xll 

molestation; and this extensive liberty of 
promulgating their opinions, granted to 
the sects of protestantism, can scarcely 
fail of producing serious effects, though it 
is probable that Bonaparte will still pre- 
serve some control over that spirit of 
religious inquiry, with which, a zeal for 
civil freedom so frequently and naturally 
connects itself. 

The attentive reader will observe oc- 
casionally, in the measured expressions 
of the biographer of Zwingle, and his 
scrupulous anxiety to draw a broad line 
of distinction between the more sober 
reformers, and the wild sects who were 
enemies of all regular government, that 
kind of apprehensiveness, v\'liich must 
necessarily haunt every man of free and 
generous sentiments, when writing under 
the eye of a despot. Either this sen,ti- 



Xlll 

ment, or some prejudice of his own, has 
rendered him a little uncharitable in his 
imputation of motives to Mantz and Gre- 
bel, the anabaptist leaders in Switzerland; 
and in his transactions with them, if any 
where, Zwingle may possibly be thought 
to have made some sacrifice of his par- 
ticular opinions, to the prosperity of the 
reformation in general. Had not the 
fanatics rendered adult baptism the badge 
of their sect, Zwingle Avould apparently 
have embraced it, as most conformable to 
the scriptural notion of that rite. 

From the earnest recommendations of 
classical learning which more than once 
occur, we may perhaps infer how much 
that branch of study is neglected in France, 
where all examinations for degrees are 
now in the native tongue, and do not sup- 
pose the knowledge of any other. 



XIV 



After perusing the eloquent pleadings 
by which Zw ingle thought it his duty, as 
a patriot and a christian, to deter his 
countrymen from entering as mercenaries 
hito foreign services, the note appended 
by his biographer will not be read without 
a mixture of pity and indignation. It 
must be regarded as the miserable offer- 
ing of fear, wrung from the reluctant 
hands of morality and religion, by a mili- 
tary tyrant, who would rather tolerate any 
heresy, than that benignant philosophy 
which would establish the reign of peace 
and equity over the face of the earth. 
How little can the manhness of sincerity, 
and the unbendingness of rectitude, con- 
sist with the privation of political liberty ! 

It is chiefly the merit of a lively and 
feeling narrative of facts, that the trans- 
lator would claim for this volume, which 



XV 



is designed for general reading, and is pro- 
bably not the work of a profound theo- 
logian. It contains explanations of terms 
and things familiar to all but mere begin- 
ners in divinity; it enters into no deep 
discussions of controverted points; but 
aims at giving such a picture of the truly 
evangelical character and spirit of the 
Swiss reformer and his doctrine as, by in- 
teresting the heart, may gently invite the 
reason to a closer investigation of those 
principles, which it was the business of 
his life to inculcate. 



LIFE OF ZWINGLE, 



THE SWISS REFORMER. 



Ulric Zwingle was born January Ist? 
1484, at Wildhaus, a village of the county 
of Tockenburg in Switzerland. Lofty 
mountains and narrow valleys, covered 
with wood and pasturage, occupy the whole 
surface of this small district, the principal 
riches of which consist in its numerous 
flocks and herds. The inhabitants of 
Tockenburg, formerly governed by Counts 
of the same name, came in the fifteenth 
century under the domination of the Abbot 
of St. Gall, who was both a prince of the 
empire, and a member of the Helvetic con- 
federacy; and they had contracted an alli- 
ance with the Swiss Cantons which pro- 

B 



tected them from every arbitrary act of op- 
pression, and guaranteed to them the privi- 
leges that they had successively obtained 
from their masters. The extremes of wealth 
and poverty were equally unknown, and the 
only distinction recognized among them 
was that conferred by the reputation of 
perfect integrity. 

It was in the midst of this pastoral 
people that the father of Zwingle passed 
his life. He was a simple peasant, but he 
enjoyed an easy competence, and he had 
deserved the esteem of his fellow citizens, 
by whom the office of first magistrate of the 
district was confided to him.'' Born in so 
obscure a situation, it is probable that young 
Ulric would never have stepped beyond the 
narrow sphere of his village, had not the 
promising dispositions which he mani- 
fested in his childhood, determined his 
father to consecrate him to the church, 
and to procure him the means of a learned 
education. With this intention, he sent 
him first to Basil, and then to Bern, where 
a school of polite literature was lately 

^ Myconius de vit*i et obitu Zuinglii. 



founded. The instructions he there re- 
ceived were principally in latin; and his 
masters were not content with giving 
him a grammatical knowledge of the lan- 
guage; they also taught him to feel the 
beauties of the classical authors, and caused 
him to study the rules of eloquence and 
poetry, in the models left us by the an- 
cients.b This study, long continued, greatly 
assisted in unfolding the talents of young 
Zwino-le. Nothing; indeed is better calcu- 
lated to expand the intellectual faculties, 
than the well-directed study of the dead 
languages, from the tenderest age. The 
continual application of the rules, perpetu- 
ally revives the attention of the scholar; 
the necessity of clothing the same idea 
under different forms, and the choice of 
expressions more or less elegant, noble, or 
energetic, exercises at once the taste and 
the judgment, without fatiguing young 
minds with a chain of ideas above their 
comprehension. 

During his abode at Bern, Zwingle had 

^ Myconius de vita et obitu Zuinglli. 



nearly embraced a vocation which would 
have changed the whole colour of his life. 
The Dominicans at that time exerted great 
influence in this city, as well by their 
preaching, as by exercising the office of 
confessors. Eager to preserve the autho- 
rity they enjoyed, they sought to attach to 
themselves young men of talents, fitted to 
support the credit of the order. The quali- 
ties announced by Zwingle fixed upon him 
their attention, and profiting by the indis- 
cretion of a youth abandoned to his own 
guidance, they prevailed upon him to come 
and reside in their convent, till he should 
have attained the age requisite for entering 
upon the noviciate.*" Zwingle's father dis- 
approved of this step; he dreaded irre- 
vocable engagements taken in early life, 
and in order to break the connection of 
his son with the Dominicans, he ordered 
him to quit Bern, and repair to Vienna, 
the university of which city enjoyed great 
celebrity. Zwingle obeyed; arrived at his 
new place of destination, and applied him- 

^ Bullinger's Schweitzer Chronik. MS. T. iii. 



self to the study of philosophy. Had this 
science then been what it afterwards became 
in the hands of Descartes, Locke, and Leib- 
nitz, Zwingle would doubtless have found it 
as attractive as his former studies ; but what 
was at that time decorated with the name 
of philosophy, was nothing but a mass of 
definitions of things indefinable; of sub- 
tilties the more admired the less they were 
understood. So barren a study could have 
no charms for the mind of Zwingle, which 
had been nourishing itself on the works of 
the ancients. He surmounted his repug- 
nance however, being aware that no one 
could pretend to the title of a man of let- 
ters, without having threaded the mazes of 
scholastic philosophy, which enjoyed at 
that time too high a reputation to allow a 
young man, still diffident of his own judg- 
ment, to call in question the utility of its 
conclusions. This science did not contri- 
bute to enlarge the ideas of Zwingle, but it 
at least enabled him afterwards to defend 
himself with the same weapons employed 
by his adversaries in attacking him. 



After two years passed at Vienna, 
Zwingle returned to his father's house, but 
did not long remain there. The knowledge 
that he had already acquired was not suf- 
ficient for him; he was desirous both of 
adding to his store, and of applying what he 
already possessed : in a village it was impos- 
sible to do either. He therefore repaired 
a second time to Basil, and there began his 
career as an instructor. The situation of a 
teacher having become vacant, it was in- 
trusted to Zwingle, a stranger, and scarcely 
eighteen years of age, and he laboured with 
success to facilitate and encourage the 
study of the ancient languages ; '^ that study 
which prepared the revival of letters in the 
fifteenth century, and which will at all 
times afford the best basis for a liberal edu- 
cation. The duties of his situation by no 
means absorbed the whole active mind of 
Zwingle; he continued to learn as well as 
to teach. Among the authors which en- 
gaged his attention, we shall content our- 
selves with enumerating, Horace, Sallust, 

^ Mycon. de vita et obitu Zuinglii. 



Pliny, Seneca, Aristotle, Plato, and Demos- 
thenes.^ He professed for none of these 
writers that exclusive and servile admirar^ 
tion so common at a period when a blind 
submission to the decisions of his master 
was looked upon as the highest virtue of a 
disciple, and when the most learned men 
were content to comment upon the ideas of 
others, without permitting themselves to 
entertain any of their own. He studied 
them all with equal attention, and appro- 
priated to himself what he found true and 
admirable in each. This labour gave him 
vigour to break the bands in which scho- 
lastic philosophy had, to a certain degree, 
fettered his understanding; it elevated 
him above his age, and preserved him from 
the narrowness of most of his contempora- 
ries; it diffused a noble freedom through 
all his opinions, taught him to make use of 
his reason, and kindled in his soul a love of 
truth, and an ardent desire to promote its 
triumph over error. 

In the mean time Zwingle did not neg- 
lect the studies peculiar to the profession 

^ J. H. Hottingeri Hist. Eccl. T. vi. p. 197 



8 

for which he was designed by his father ^ 
and with the same zeal that distinguished 
him in all his pursuits, he applied himself 
to theology. This science no longer re- 
sembled what it had been in the time of 
those eloquent men who illustrated the 
first ages of Christianity by their virtues no 
less than their talents/ Instead of taking 
the sacred code of christians for the basis 
of their instructions, the theologians of the 
fifteenth century founded their systems on 
some propositions drawn from Scotus, 
Occam, or Albertus Magnus, whose now 

^ *■ When we compare/ says Erasmus^ *■ a Saint Chrys- 
ostom, St. Jerome, or St. Basil, with our modern doc- 
tors, we see there, a majestic river which rolls down gold 
in its waves ; here, some small streams of a muddy water,' 
which has nothing in common with the source whence 
it sprung. There^ we hear the oracles of eternal truths 
here, human inventions, which vanish like a dream as 
soon as we examine them closely. There, we behold a 
beautiful edifice raised on the solid basis of the sacred 
scriptures ; here, a monstrous scaffolding which rests on 
nothing but vain subtilties.' 

At Basil, a fanatical Franciscan openly assured his au- 
dience from the pulpit, that Scotus had rendered greater 
services to the church than St. Paul. 

J. H. Hott. Hist. Eccl. T. vi. p. 383. 



forgotten writings, enjoyed at that period 
an authority at least equal to that of scrip- 
ture.^ These doctors, neglecting all that 
is really useful to man, were not ashamed 
to occupy the minds of their disciples with 
the dreams of their own fantastical imagi- 
nations. One entered into so exact a de- 
scription of hell, that it might have been 
thought he had made a long abode there; 
another explained the formation of the 
universe, as if he had been present at its 
creation; a third discussed the question 
whether after the resurrection we should 
be allowed to eat and drink ; a fourth in- 
quired whether God could have caused his 
Son to appear in the form of a stone, and in 
this case, how a stone could have preached 
and worked miracles. 

Such were the subjects on which the 
professors of theology discoursed to their 
auditors, in a barbarous language which 
they called latin. It was certainly neces- 
sary to invent new words to express a 
number of new distinctions at least, if not 
ideas, but the theologians even affected a 

g J. H. Hott Hist. Eccl. T. vi. p. 383. 



10 

style remote from that of the ancients, and 
contemptuously distinguished by the name 
of grammarians those who, in writing the 
language of Cicero, were desirous of mak- 
ing him their model; it was indeed prudent 
to awe the profane by an unintelligible 
phraseology, and to conceal under an ob- 
scurity of terms the absence of ideas. Be- 
sides, the very labour requisite to become 
familiar with this terminology, attached to 
the doctrine of the schools those who had 
at length, after painful efforts, succeeded. 
Who could believe that what had cost him 
so much pains to learn, was not the truth? 
If any man of an understanding superior to 
the rest, after having exhausted all their 
systems, perceived at length that the pre- 
tended results of so much meditation were 
nothing but words without meaning, he 
kept to himself the melancholy discovery, 
for fear of drawing upon himself the hatred 
of the heads of schools, who were always 
ready to tax new opinions with heresy. 
Few however were the minds capable of 
resisting the operation of all these absurdi- 
ties. A method of instruction which con- 



11 

sisted in filling the memory with a mass of 
distinctions, conclusions, and syllogisms, 
must necessarily have paralysed the intel- 
lect, and deprived the scholar of the power 
of thinking, at the same time that an opinion 
of the infallibility of his masters robbed 
him of the will. Uncommon talents, as- 
sisted by fortunate circumstances, were re- 
quisite to prevent a man from being carried 
away by the general stream. Zwingle 
possessed the former, and profited by the 
latter : his frequent change of masters pre- 
vented him from following the uniform 
direction of any one; and the knowledge 
of classical authors acquired in his early 
youth, had so far opened his understanding, 
that he would no longer suffer it to be 
brought into blind subjection. He had 
also the good fortune to find, among the 
professors at Basil, a man who, without 
having had the courage entirely to re- 
nounce the ancient system of the schools, 
had sounder ideas on ^several points of 
doctrine than most of his contemporaries. 
Zwingle in his letters acknowledges great 
obligations to this theologian, named 



V2 

Thomas Wyttembach, whose lectures he 
had attended, and with whom he main- 
tained a friendly correspondence till his 
death. When Zwingle attacked the opi- 
nions of the Romish church, Wyttembach 
took great interest in his efforts, though 
his advanced age did not allow him to en- 
list himself among the combatants. He 
more than once bitterly regretted to his 
old disciple, the precious years that he had 
caused his pupils to waste in vain disputes 
of words, and puerile discussions.^^ 

The historians of Zwingle give scarcely 
any particulars of his abode at Basil, either 
because they knew nothing of this period 
of his life, or because the circumstances 
that served to develop his genius, had not 
sufficiently excited their curiosity. They 
content themselves with remarking, that 
he there took the degree of Master of Arts. 
This title, honourable when it was only 
granted to merit, had ceased to be so in the 
eyes of enlightened men since the universi- 
ties had made a traffic of it. But the mul- 
titude retained its 0I4 respect for these dis- 

^' Bull, Schweitz. Chronik. MS. T. iil. 



]3 

tinctions, and unless decorated by them, 
the most learned man enjoyed no autho- 
rity. Zwingle conformed in this respect 
to the spirit of his age. It was not neces- 
sary for him to have recourse to the fa- 
vour of his superiors ; his talents, and the 
services that he had already rendered to 
the academy of Basil, were sufficient to 
procure him the rank he desired. 

In the midst of the most assiduous ap- 
plication, and the most serious kinds of 
employment, Zwingle never lost his ami- 
able gaiety; nor did he cease to cultivate 
a talent the elements of which he had ac- 
quired in his childhood — that of music. 
This art then formed an essential part of 
the education of vouno: men destined to 
the ecclesiastical profession. Zwingle re- 
garded it as an amusement calculated to 
refresh the mind after fatiguing exertion, 
and thus to give it new strength, while it 
softened a too great austerity of disposi- 
tion ; he therefore frequently recommended 
it to men devoted to a laborious and se, 
dentary life.^ 

' Mvcon. de vit. et obit, Zuindii, 



14 

Zwitigle had resided four years at Easily 
when the burghers of Claris, the chief 
town of the canton of that name, chose 
him for their pastor. He accepted this 
situation, which brought him nearer to his 
family, and repaired thither after receiving 
holy orders, which were conferred upon 
him by the bishop of Constance, in whose 
diocese the canton of Glaris was situated. 
In order worthily to acquit himself of the 
ministry intrusted to him, Zwingle thought 
that he stood in need of deeper and more 
extensive learning than he already pos- 
sessed. He accordingly resolved to recom- 
mence his theological studies after a plan 
that he had himself traced out, and which 
was very different from that followed in 
the universities. An assiduous perusal of 
the New Testament preceded his fresh re- 
searches. In order to render himself more 
familiar with St. Paul's epistles, he copied 
the Greek text with his own hand, adding 
in the margin a multitude of notes ex- 
tracted from the fathers of the church, as 
well as his own observations,^ and this in- 

^ Bull. Schw. Chr. T. iii. 



15 

teresting manuscript still exists in the 
public library of Zurich. The attention of 
Zwingle was from this time directed to the 
passages of scripture cited in the canon 
of the mass, and to those which serve as a 
basis to the dogmas and most essential pre- 
cepts of the church. Their interpretation 
had long been fixed, but Zwingle thought 
it inexcusable in a man appointed to in- 
struct his fellow christians to rest upon the 
decision of others on points that he might 
himself examine. He therefore followed 
the only method to discover the true sense 
of an author, which consists in interpreting 
an obscure passage by a similar and clearer 
one; and an unusual word by one more 
familiar; regard being had to time, place, 
the intention of the writer, and a number 
of other circumstances which modify and 
often change the signification of words. 
After endeavouring to explain the text of 
the gospel by itself, Zwingle also made 
himself acquainted with the interpretations 
given by other theologians, especially by 
the fathers of the church, who, having lived 
nearer the times of the apostles, must have 



16 

imdei'stood their language better than the 
modern doctors. It was in the writings of 
the fathers that he also studied the man- 
ners and customs of the first christians; 
followed them through the persecutions of 
which they were the victims ; observed the 
rapid progress of the rising church; and 
admired that astonishing revolution which 
by degrees elevated the ucaf religion to the 
throne of the Csesars — an event prosperous 
in appearance, but which, in more than one 
instance, rendered Christianity subservient 
to the same passions which in its humbler 
state it had commanded with such complete 
authority. From the fathers, Zwingle went 
on to the obscure authors of the middle ages : 
their rude style and absurd opinions would 
soon have discouraged him, had he . not 
v/ished to become minutely informed of 
the state of Christianity during these ages 
of ignorance. He did not limit himself to 
the writers approved by the church. '^ In 
the midst of a field covered with noxious 
weeds," would he often say " salutary herbs 
may sometimes be found." On this prin- 
ciple, he read without prejudice the works 



17 

of several authors accused of heresy, par- 
ticularly those of Ratramn, ^otherwise 
Bertram,) a monk of the ninth century, 
whose opinions on the eucharist, though 
conformable to those of preceding ages, were 
condemned by the court of Rome; those 
of the Englishman Wickliif, a writer of the 
fourteenth century, who rejected the invo- 
cation of saints and monastic vov/s; and 
those of John Huss, condemned to the 
stake by the council of Constance, for at- 
tempting to diminish the excessive autho- 
rity of the churchy and set bounds to the 
temporal power of the clergy.i 

It was not from mere curiosity that 
Zwingle undertook these long and painful 
studies, but for the sake of fixing his faith 
on a solid and immoveable foundation. He 
did not refuse to conform to the decisions 
of the church, but he wished to know the 
grounds of these decisions, and to learn 
upon what proofs the doctrine rested which 
had been transmitted to him. The result 
of this examination was very diiferent from 
what he expected. He found some among 

* J. H. Hott. Hist. Eccl. T. vi, p. 485. 
C 



18 

the dogmas to Avhich the highest import- 
ance was attached by the doctors of his 
time, to be entirely contrary to the spirit 
of the gospel; others appeared to him to 
be founded on erroneous interpretations of 
certain passages of scripture, which owed 
their origin either to ignorance, or to a 
spirit of system still more fatal to truth. 
It appeared to him that the mode of wor- 
ship had also undergone considerable 
changes. The nearer he traced Chris- 
tianity to its source, the less he found it 
encumbered with the multitude of observ- 
ances in which his contemporaries made 
the essence of religion to consist. Accord- 
ing to the gospel, christian worship ought 
only to be addressed to the Creator, and 
his heavenly messenger; and such had been 
the doctrine of the church during the early 
ages; afterwards other objects had been 
offered to the adoration of the people, ve- 
nerable no doubt, but by no means worthy 
of the rank to which they had been raised. 
Zwingle did justice however to the inten- 
tions of those by whom most of these inno- 
vations had been introduced. He saw that 



19 

some had been desirous of reviving the 
languid piety of the faithful by new cere- 
monies; that others, for fear of alienating 
the minds of rude nations lately converted 
to Christianity, had tolerated some relics 
of their ancient customs ; and that others 
again, seeing the incapacity of the multi- 
tude to enter into abstract ideas, had chosen 
to address their senses rather than their 
reason. This condescension appeared to 
him laudable in its motives, but pernicious 
in its effects. It had become the source 
of a crowd of abuses; had brought back 
into christian worship a great number of 
ceremonies the origin of which was to be 
found in paganism, and had insensibly im- 
paired the purity of christian morals. 

In the eyes of Zwingle, the almost un- 
bounded power of the priests appeared 
contrary to gospel principles. He was 
sufficiently aware that the clerical body 
now required a different organization from 
that of the first ages ; but he thought that 
the servants of the altar, far from seeking 
to withdraw themselves from the jurisdic- 
tion of the temporal magistrate, ought 



20 

to have afforded the example of constant 
submission to the estabhshed power. If 
anciently the warlike and unfeeling dis- 
position of the laity had rendered desirable 
the more gentle and peaceful dominion of 
the clergy, this state of things had ceased. 
It was time to renounce an authority 
several functions of which were incom- 
patible with the character of a minister of 
peace."" 

However justly these reflections ap- 
peared to Zwingle to be founded, he was 
in no haste to make them known. He was 
too deeply penetrated with the importance 
of the subjects that employed him, not to 
feel the necessity of meditating long before 
he gave any publicity to his ideas; and he 
only allowed himself to submit them to 
the examination of some learned men with 
whom he maintained an active corres- 
pondence. Zwingle followed this course 
during the ten years of his abode at Glaris. 
Without directly attacking the abuses au- 
thorised by the Romish church, he confined 
himself in his sermons to the doctrines 

"' Zuinglii;, Op. T. i. and ii. 



21 

which he found clearly laid down in the 
scriptures, and to the moral precepts to be 
deduced from them. He took every oppor- 
tunity of repeating to his audience, that in 
matters of faith, we ought to refer our- 
selves to the word of God contained in the 
scriptures, to regard as superfluous all that 
Avas unknown, and as false, all that was con- 
trary to them. The time was not yet come 
for unfolding the consequences of this 
maxim; it was necessary to prepare the 
minds of men to receive the new light, 
and Zwingle thought that this could not 
be done better than by insisting upon the 
practice of all the christian virtues, while 
most of the preachers of his tune recom- 
mended nothing to their flocks but the 
external exercises of devotion.'' With so 
much prudence and moderation, Zwingle 
ought to have been secure from the as- 
saults of calumny; yet he could not en- 
tirely escape. The purity of his morals, 
the extent of his learning, and his assidu- 
ous application, formed too strong a con- 

" Mycon. de. vit. et obit. 



22 

trast with the indolence, ignorance, and 
scandalous conduct of most of his col- 
leagues, not to draw upon him their 
hatred. 

The corruption of the clergy in the 
age immediately preceding the reforma- 
tion, is sufficiently known from the com- 
plaints of several Popes, and of the coun- 
cils assembled for the purpose of applying 
some remedy to the evil. The clergy of 
Switzerland were not exempt from the 
general contagion, in point of morals: as 
to their ignorance, it was extreme, at which 
we ought not to be astonished, since the 
country did not then possess sufficient 
establishments for public instruction. The 
convents, in which most of the young 
priests received their education, were filled 
with ignorant and narrow-minded men, 
who could not give their disciples what 
they did not themselves possess. It was 
impossible however to leave the flocks 
without shepherds, and in the deficiency 
of candidates well qualified to perform the 
functions of the priesthood, it was often 



23 

necessary to confer the vacant cures on 
young men destitute of learning, or of any 
real vocation to the profession. 

A contemporary author relates, that in 
a synod composed of the rural deans of 
Switzerland, only three were found who 
had read the Bible; the others confessed 
that they Avere scarcely acquainted even 
with the New Testament." What could be 
expected of such preachers? Their sermons 
were miserable amplifications of the legend, 
enlivened with buifooneries worthy the 
stage of a mountebank, or absurd declama- 
tions on the merit and utility of certain 
superstitious practices. Those who pos- 
sessed some learning, more occupied with 
the purpose of displaying it, than of edify- 
ing their audience, mingled in a whimsical 
manner the metaphysics of Aristotle with 
the doctrine of Christ. Most of the se- 
cular priests were either incapable of com- 
posing a discourse, or would not give them- 
selves the trouble. They contented them- 
selves with learning sermons written by 
monks, which they retailed again without 

° BuU. Schw. Chr. T. iii. 



24 

regard to time or place, to the circum- 
stances or the wants of their flock. 

In the other functions of their office 
they took no interest, except inasmuch as 
they tended to augment their revenues; 
and irregularity of morals was so frequent 
among them, that they did not even attempt 
to conceal their deviations. In the midst 
of a clergy so incapable of feeling the im- 
portance and holiness of his ministry, a 
man such as we have described Zwingle, 
must be an object of hatred and jealousy. 
In fact, though he never hazarded any pro- 
position that could be accused of heresy, 
the silence that he maintained on several 
dogmas important in the eyes of his adver- 
saries, was imputed to him as a crime; he 
was reproached for speaking more, in his 
panegyrics on saints, of their virtues, than 
their miracles: it was complained that he 
did not insist enough on the utility of fasts 
and pilgrimages, and that he appeared to 
attach little importance to images and 
relics. If these accusations were attended 
with no serious consequences, it must be 
attributed to the independent spirit preva- 



'25 

lent in the mountaineers among whom he 
lived. With them, a priest did not cease 
to be a citizen; and any violent measme 
taken against Zwingle, without the con- 
currence of the civil authority, would have 
been regarded by them as an infraction of 
their liberty : add to this, that his scrupu- 
lous exactness in fulfilling all his duties, 
had conciliated to Zwingle the respect and 
attachment of his parishioners; that his 
merit had gained him the friendship of the 
best men of the canton, and their protec- 
tion was sufficient to shelter him from all 
persecution. 

During his abode at Glaris, Zwingle 
was called to the exercise of functions 
which perpetually interrupted the course 
of his studies. He was twice ordered by 
his government to accompany the troops 
of the canton in the capacity of chaplain. 
It was the custom with the Swiss to cause 
their armies to be attended by ministers of 
the altar, both to celebrate divine service, 
and assist the dying, and that they might 
diminish by their presence and exhortations 
the disorders to which the warriors of 



^6 

those times were but too much inchned. 
This respectable ministry was well suited 
to the firm and humane disposition of 
Zwingle. It were to be wished that those 
who have described the campaigns in Italy, 
had preserved some traits of the reformer, 
which might give a picture of his conduct 
at this period of his life ; but they scarcely 
name him, and furnish no materials to his 
biographer. The observation of the fatal 
passions called forth in his countrymen by 
these expeditions, had, however, so marked 
an effect on the political principles of 
Zwingle, that I feel it incumbent upon me 
to enter into some particulars on this sub- 
ject. A rapid sketch of the motives which 
induced the Helvetic confederac}^ to take 
part in the wars of Italy at the beginning 
of the fifteenth century, and of the effects 
produced by them, will give the reader an 
idea of the moral and political state of the 
Swiss on the eve of the reformation. 

Louis XII. from the time of his accession 
to the throne, began to advance his claims 
upon the duchy of Milan against Lodovico 
Sforza, surnamed the Moor. The house of 



27 

Sforza had come into possession of this 
duchy by the usurpation of Francesco 
Sforza, who, from a private soldier, had 
become Duke of Milan, to the prejudice of 
the descendents of the daughter of the 
last Visconti. Lodovico reigned by a new, 
and still more odious usurpation. Being 
entrusted with the guardianship of his 
nephew, he kept him in close imprisonment, 
even after he became of age; and when at 
length this unfortunate prince sunk under 
the ill treatment to which he was subjected, 
Lodovico assumed the title of Duke, with- 
out regard to the lawful claims of the 
children of his nephew. The army marched 
against him by Louis XII. in a short time 
possessed itself of the whole duchy. Lo- 
dovico did not however regard himself as 
conquered, and he succeeded in raising a 
body of volunteers in Switzerland, notwith- 
standing the express prohibition of the 
Cantons, who were bound by treaty to the 
king of France. With this corps and some 
German troops furnished him by the em- 
peror Maximilian, he recovered his states 
almost as rapidly as he had lost them. 



^8 

Louis sent another army into Italy under 
the orders of the baihfF of Dijon, which 
had no sooner arrived in the Milanese, 
than it obtained several decisive advan- 
tages, and obliged the duke to throw him- 
self into No vara, where he was soon be- 
sieged by forces superior to his own. 
After bombarding the city during several 
days, the bailiff of Dijon offered an ho- 
nourable capitulation to the Swiss and 
German troops, on condition that the duke, 
vvath his Italian soldiers, should surrender 
at discretion. Violent debates arose upon 
this offer ; at length the majority resolved 
to accept it. They seized upon Lodovico, 
but just as he was going to be delivered 
into the hands of the French, some Swiss 
officers took possession of his person in 
order to save him. They disguised him, 
and concealing him in their own ranks, 
hoped to convey him out of the city without 
being known. The French general, pro- 
voked at this, encircled the Swiss, caused 
his artillery to be pointed against them, 
and threatened to slaughter them all if 
they would not give up the duke. His 



29 

threats being ineffectual, lie had recourse 
to promises, and offered two hundred 
crowns to any one who would discover 
Sforza. A soldier of the canton of Ury, 
named Rodolph Thurmann, could not resist 
the temptation; the duke was taken and 
carried into France, where he died after a 
captivity of ten years. Thurmann, on re- 
turning to his country, was brought before 
the tribunals and punished with death for 
having betrayed the prince whom he 
served ;P but this just chastisement was 
not equally public with the action which 
incurred it, and the whole nation was ac- 
cused of the crime of an individual. In all 
the Cantons, the leaders of the troops who 
had engaged themselves of their own au- 
thority to the duke of Milan Avere severely 
punished, which did not prevent this irre- 
gularity from being several times repeated 
during the wars occasioned by the league 
of Cambray. This league, apparently so 
formidable, underwent the fate of all coali- 
tions. Its principal author. Pope Julius II. 

P Bull. Schw. Chr. T. ii. L. ii. C. i. Simlerus de rep. 
Helv. L. i. p . 1 14. 



30 

alarmed at the ascendency which the 
French began to assume in the aifairs of 
Italy, was the first to abandon it He also 
succeeded in detaching the emperor Maxi- 
milian I. and both in concert resolved to 
strip Louis XIL of his Italian conquests, 
and to place on the ducal seat of Milan, 
Maximilian Sforza, son of Lodovico the 
Moor. In order to execute this project, 
they required the assistance of the Swiss 
Cantons, and it v/as necessary to begin by 
separating them from France, with which 
country they had a treaty subsisting. Hap- 
pily for the pope, Louis XIL had offended 
the Swiss by contesting with them the 
sovereignty of the town of Bellinzona, and 
by refusing to augment the stipends which 
he granted to the magistrates of the Can- 
tons. When at the expiration of the term 
of the alliance it was proposed to renew it, 
Louis haughtily rejected the conditions re- 
quired by the Swiss, and thus completely 
alienated their minds. The pope's legate, 
Matthew Schinner, knew how to make 
advantage of the discontent caused by the 
king's answer, and obtained from the diet 
whatever he desired. This legate, known 



31 

in history under the name of the cardinal 
of Sion, acted a very important part in 
Switzerland during a number of years. 
Born of poor parents in a village of the 
ValaiS; he chose the ecclesiastical profes- 
sion, as being the only one which could 
open the path of honour to men of every 
class. After studying successively at Sion, 
Zurich, and Como, he returned to his own 
country, where he obtained a small cure. 
He led a sober and laborious life, devoting 
to study the leisure allowed by his clerical 
functions. Chance brought him acquainted 
with Jost de Silenen, bishop of Sion, who 
having stopped at his house on one of his 
visitations, was greatly astonished to find 
in the dwelling of a poor parish priest, 
books of jurisprudence and canon law, and 
entering into conversation with him, was 
struck with the extent of his knowledge 
and his facility of expression. He assured 
him of his protection, and soon performed 
the promise, by conferring on him the first 
canonry vacant at Sion. Some yearsa fter- 
wards, Jost de Silenen had several con- 
tests with the people of the Valais, in con- 



sequence of which he was obhged to quit 
this countn^ Schinner, who happened to 
be at Rome upon some aifairs of his chap- 
ter, took advantage of this circumstance, 
and obtained of the pope the bishopric of 
Sion for himself.'' This elevation would 
have satisfied an ordinary ambition, but 
Schinner carried his views further. He 
felt himself possessed of talents sufficient 
to distinguish him on a wider theatre, and 
the situation of his country furnished him 
with the opportunity. France had neg- 
lected to attach him, but pope Julius 
granted him his entire confidence; he 
made him a cardinal in 1511, and named 
him legate of the holy see in Switzerland, 
and from that time Schinner remained in- 
violably attached to Rome. We may ima- 
gine how great an ascendency was given 
him by his ecclesiastical dignities, joined 
to an artful and insinuating eloquence, and 
an austerity of maimers rare among the 
prelates of his time.^ By his intrigues and 

'I Simler. Vales, p. 156. 
*■ " The cardinal of Sion was so learned and so elo- 
quent that he could render a reason for all that he did; 



33 

his promises, he obtained permission of the 
cantons to levy troops for the assistance of 
the pope against Louis XII. who had just 
been excommunicated. Twenty thousand 
men were assembled in the Grison country 
in order to penetrate into Italy; and it was 
on this expedition that Zwingle for the 
first time accompanied the contingent of 
Glaris. Having obtained of the emperor 
a free passage through Tyrol, the Swiss 
army arrived at Verona without encounter- 
ing any obstacle. The Venetian troops 
joined the Sv/iss under the walls of this 
city. The united armies continued their 
march ; they forced several passages guarded 
by the French; every thing gave way 
before them: Cremona, Pavia, Milan, suc- 
cessively opened their gates, and the enemy 
evacuated the whole duchy except the castle 
of Milan and that of Novara,* The cardinal 
of Sion rejoined his countrymen at Milan, 
and brought them, as a pledge of the grati- 
tude of Julius II. a ducal hat, on which was 

lie was sober, chast?, and of morals, if not good, at least 
of good example. Cliron. de Bonnivard. 

^ Henault Abr. Chr. P. ii. p. 442, 
D ; 



embroidered in pearls a dove, representing 
the Holy Spirit; a consecrated sword, two 
banners with the arms of the Holy See, and 
a standard for each of the thirteen cantons. 
The pope added to these presents his per- 
mission to them to assume in future the 
title of Defenders of the Church; and at 
the same time the officers and soldiers re- 
ceived their pay, and some extraordinary 
gratifications.* The cardinal, in order to 
afford Zwingle a proof of. his esteem and 
confidence, charged him with the distribu- 
tion of the gifts of the pope." 

The Swiss returned to their country 
loaded with gold and glory, leaving in 
Milan a garrison of six thousand men. A 
short time after, an embassy composed of 
the deputies of the cantons, repaired to 
Milan to install duke Maximilian Sforza, 
son of Lodovico, to whom the Helvetic 
Confederacy guarantied the possession 
of his duchy. Never was the power of the 
Swiss at so high a pitch, and never was 
their alliance so eagerly sought after by 

t Chron. Urstis. Stell. Bull. 
« Hartm. AnnaL Eins. p. 44/. 



35 

the neighbouring princes. The fate of the 
Milanese was not however decided. The 
French, enfeebled but not overcome, re- 
ceived powerful reinforcements, and the 
next year they were in a condition to re- 
sume the offensive. The inhabitants of 
the country, with a versatility natural to 
their disposition, deserted their new sove- 
reign to enlist under the standard of Louis. 
Their defection forced the Swiss, who had 
remained with the duke, to retire into the 
town of Novara, where they awaited the 
arrival of the fresh troops which the can- 
tons had dispatched in haste as soon as they 
learned the danger of their countrymen^ 
Scarcely had this succour arrived, when 
they resolved to attack the French under 
Louis de la Trimouille. On the 6th 
of June, 16 14, was fought the battle of 
Novara, enumerated by contemporary his- 
torians'" among the most glorious exploits 
of the Swiss nation. The artillery of the 
enemy made at first great ravages among 
the Swiss, but they marched on undismayed, 
and after an engagement of five hourSy 

^ Paul, Jov. Giiiccardini, 



36 

gained a complete victory. The baggage^ 
the mihtary chest, and a great part of the 
French artillery, fell into their hands ;^ but 
the victory was purchased by the blood of 
some of their best troops. On this account 
the return of the conquerors to their 
country, instead of causing general joy, 
gave rise to bitter complaints. All those 
whoj without having shared in the advan- 
tages of the campaign, lamented the death 
of a son or a father, testified their discon- 
tent, regardless of the glory with which the 
army was crowned; but by one of those 
caprices to which popular feeling is liable, 
the weight of their hatred fell less upon 
the real authors of the war, than upon those 
whom they reproached with adhering to 
the French party. In several cantons, 
troubles were excited which could only be 
appeased by making strict search after the 
chiefs suspected of holding intelligence 
with France. Some were so fortunate as 
to save themselves from the fury of the po- 
pulace by flight, but several lost their 
heads on the scaffold. Instead of attack- 

y Bull Schw. Chr. T. ii. L. xiv. c. 10. 



37 

ing the root of the evil, the spirit of party 
wreaked its vengeance on individvals ; and 
the obstinacy of the Swiss in adhering to 
alhances that drew them into wars with 
which they had nothing to do, was not 
long in bringing upon them reverses equally 
humiliating and unexpected. 

Francis I. succeeded Louis XII. in 1515 : 
he was not disposed to leave Maximilian 
Sforza in peaceable possession of Milan, 
and made formidable preparations for re- 
conquering that duchy. Maximilian, being 
too weak alone to defend himself, conjured 
the Swiss to support their OAvn work. The 
ambassadors of the emperor, and the car- 
dinal of Sion in tlie name of his master, 
LeoX. thesuccessor of Julius II. supported 
with all their authority the request of the 
duke. The Swiss thought their honour 
engaged to defend Sforza, whom they had 
themselves established in his duchy; and 
they also confided in the promises of which 
Maximilian I. and Leo X. were never spar- 
ing.^ The cantons sent successively se- 
veral bodies of troops into the Milanese, 

^ Rhan. Chron. p. 614.- 



S8 

^mounting in all to eighteen thousand men, 
which advanced to meet the French. Soon 
after, the approach of Francis himself at 
the head of a numerous army, induced them 
to fall back upon Turin. This retreat was 
attributed to a secret intelligence; the 
chiefs however alleged as its motive the 
great superiority of the enemy, which for- 
bade them to expose their soldiers to an 
unequal contest. They dispatched couriers 
to the cantons to request succours, and a 
fresh body of 12,000 was sent, which aug- 
mented the Swiss army to above 30,000 
combatants.^ We have once already seen 
Zwingle accompany the contingent of Glaris 
into Italy, and become the witness of a 
signal victory ; he now returned to behold 
a great disaster. 

Francis I. had followed the Swiss with- 
out however molesting them in their re- 
treat. Although he ardently desired to make 
himself master of Milan, he was anxious to 
avoid combats which by. weakening his 
army might impede the execution of his 
plans upon Naples. He therefore entered 

. a Bull. S. C. T. ii. L. xiv. 



39 

into negociations with some Swiss captains 
attached to France, with whom he found no 
difficulty in succeeding. It was agreed 
that the Swiss should not prevent the 
French from occupying the Milanese; and 
that the king, on his part, should grant 
Maximilian Sforza an indemnification in 
France, and marry him to a princess of his 
own blood. If a male heir should spring 
from this union, France engaged to restore 
to him the duchy of Milan.^ This conven- 
tion, made at Galeran, was carried into the 
Swiss camp by Albert de Stein, a Bernese, 
and a zealous partizan of France. He re- 
presented to his countrymen, that by sti- 
pulating for an indemnification to Sforza, 
they would fulfil their engagements towards 
him, and that this peace would be more 
useful to their country than a perilous 
war with so formidable a power as France. 
These representations were so well received 
by the troops of several cantons, that they 
immediately accepted the conditions pro- 
posed, without waiting for the authority of 
their governments ; and the contingents of 

^ Bull. S. C. T. ii. L. xiv. 



40 

Bern, Friburg, and Soleure, regarding the 
campaign as finished, immediately set off 
for their own homes. Those of Zurich and 
Zug, with the exception of some volunteers, 
followed the example; but the troops of 
Ury, Schweitz, Unterwalden, and Claris, 
would not consent to the treaty till its ra- 
tification by the cantons/ 

The Swiss army, weakened by these de- 
partures, now found itself unable to make 
head against the French in the open field, 
and retired to Monza near Milan. At this 
place Zwingle, in the middle of the camp, 
addressed to his countrymen a discourse 
upon their critical situation.'^ The want of 
harmony among the leaders, the insubordi- 
nation of the soldiers, and their disposition 
to follow alternately opposite impulses, 
made him apprehend for them some great 
reverse, from which he would gladly have 
preserved them, by his counsels. He ap- 
proved of their refusal to accede to the 
treaty with the king of France, before the 
will of their governments was known. He 
gave great praise to their courage, conjur- 

"^ Bull. C. L. ^ W. Steiner in Chron. Tug. MS. 



41 

ing them not to give themselves up to a se- 
curity doubly dangerous in the presence of 
an enemy superior in numbers. He en- 
treated the chiefs to renounce their rival- 
ries; he exhorted the soldiers to listen to 
none but their officers, and not to compro- 
mise, by an imprudent step, their own lives 
and the glory of their country.^ It was 
difficult for words like these to make any 
impression upon warriors intoxicated with 
their former victories, and persuaded that 
nothing could resist them; and they soon 
drcAv upon themselves the misfortunes fore- 
seen by Zwingle. 

The French had followed the Swiss, 
and were observing, without attacking 
them, hoping that the cantons would recal 
their troops as soon as they were informed 
of the treaty, and that they might then 
enter Milan without striking a blow. The 
duke, who had not been consulted in the 
negociations, and the cardinal of Sion, who 
wished to prevent the aggrandisement of 
the French in Italy, endeavoured to bring 
the armies to battle. In this they sue- 

^ W, Steiner in Chron. Tug. MS. 



ceeded;^ at their instigation the soldiers of 
the duke's guard, and some Swiss volunteers, 
went and provoked the French out-posts 
near Marigniano.^ An action having en- 
sued, they sent to their own camp to ask 
assistance, under pretext that they had 
been first attacked. The opinions of the 
officers were divided: some maintained that 
they ought not to allow themselves any act 
of hostility till the decision of the cantons 
was known; others would not desert their 
compatriots when in danger.^ During 
these deliberations, the soldiers issued from 
the camp in crowds; they flew to the re- 
lief of their comrades, and the officers, who 
could no longer make themselves obeyed, 
were obliged to put themselves at their 
head. The battle soon became general. 
The Swiss, notwithstanding the fire of the 
enemy's artillery, crossed a deep foss; 
they advanced with impetuosity; the ar- 
mies joined, and fought man to man with 
equal fierceness on both sides. The great- 

f Joh. Simler, De Rep. Helv. 1. i. p. 132. 

s This was on the 13th of Dec, 1515. 

^ Bull. S.C. T. ii. 1. xiv. 



43 

est French captains, the constable of 
Bourbon, la Tremouille, marshal Trevulci, 
and the chevalier Bayard, showed them- 
selves worthy of their high reputation; 
but their efforts were vain; the French 
were obliged to give ground, and were pur- 
sued till night put an end to the carnage.' 
The victors had lost a vast many men; the 
greater part of their soldiers were wounded 
and disabled, and they found themselves in 
face of an enemy who, far from being en- 
tirely defeated, still retained the advantage 
in numbers. Several of the Swiss leaders 
judged it necessary to retire behind the 
ramparts of Milan, in order to take that re- 
pose of which they stood in need; but their 
men would have thought the lustre of their 
victory tarnished by quitting the field on 
the day of the battle.^ 1 he officers there- 
fore gave way, and had reason to repent 

' Bull. S. C. 

^ According to an ancient custom, the Swiss^, after 

gaining a victory, were to remain till the thii'd day on the 

field of battle, to wait for the enemy, in case he should 

wish to take his revenge. 

Bull S. C. T. iv. p. 404. 



44 

their compliance. Early the next morning 
the French, reinforced by the Venetian 
army, attacked the Swiss in their turn. 
These rallied in haste, and opposed an ob- 
stinate resistance; but the French, ani- 
mated by the presence and example of 
their king, performed prodigies of valour, 
and forced the Swiss to retreat upon Milan, 
fio'htino; as thev retired.' Never was vie- 
tory better disputed, or contest more ho- 
nourable to the victors and the vanquished. 
Marshal Trivulci, who had been present at 
eighteen battles, said that they were chil- 
dren's play com pared with Marignano, which 
was a battle of giants."" 

The Swiss having lost in this bloody 
day the flower of their troops, opened their 
eyes at length to the danger of their situa- 
tion: they im^puted their defeat to the 
cardinal of Sion, who had much difficulty 
in withdrav/ing himself from their resent- 
ment:" the day after the battle the Swiss 

1 J. H. Hott. H. E. T. vi. p. SpG. 

™ Hen. Abr. Chr. P. ii. p. 460. 

° Siml. Vales, p. 166. 



45 

quitted Milan, leaving Sforza to the mercy 
of Francis I. who, contented to see himself 
delivered from enemies so courageous, op- 
posed no obstacles to their departure. 

The news of the destruction of this 
army, the most numerous that Switzerland 
had ever sent out, caused violent dissentions 
to burst forth between individuals as well 
as between the cantons. The French party 
and the pope's mutually reproached one 
another with all the misfortunes that had 
happened to their countiy, and neither 
would see, that they ought to have accused 
the ambition and cupidity which were equal 
on both sides. 

In reading the history of the Helvetic 
Confederacy during the first twenty years 
of the l6th century, we scarcely recognize 
the descendants of the Swiss of the 14th 
and 15th centuries. These, simple in their 
manners, poor, but content with their lot, 
limited their ambition to the defence of 
their liberty and independence. They had 
so little wish to aggrandize themselves, that 
in 1416, the repeated orders of the emperor 
Siofismond and the council of Constance. 



46 

could scarcely determine them to take ad- 
vantage of the situation of Frederic of 
Austria, who was excommunicated and put 
to the ban of the empire, in order to acquire 
some portions of territory, the possession 
of which was very important to them.° 
The only end of their alliances at this remote 
period was peace. They desired nothing 
but to remain in tran<|uilHty in the bosom 
of their mountains, without entering into 
the disputes of their neighbours. This 
system was the only one suitable to a coun- 
try not fertile and of few resources. It 
was also the only one adapted to a state 
composed of several independent republics, 
united by a slight bond, which was drawn 
closer by danger, but relaxed by pros- 
perity. 

As long as the Swiss remained faithful 
to their neutrality, union among families, 
and harmony between the cantons, secured 
to them the enjoyments of the blessings 
that their valour had acquired. A total 
change took place during the latter half of 

"" Bull. Schw. Chr. T. ii. L. iv. Etterlin. p. 64, 
Stetl. I. p. in et seq. 



47 

the 15tli century. Charles the Bold, by 
constraining the Swiss to defend themselves 
against his usurpations, taught them at his 
expense the secret of their ovv^n strength ; 
but this knowledge became to them a source 
of misfortunes, since it inspired them with 
the ambition of taking a place among the 
powers of Europe. Permanent relations 
were established between the Helvetic diet 
and the neighbouring princes, which mul- 
tiplied particularly during the wars of Italy 
in the timics of Louis XII. and Francis I. 
At this period several courts maintained 
permanent embassies in Switzerland,. which 
introduced there all the vices of great cities. 
Nothing was neglected by these envoys to 
excite in the lower classes a love of pleasure 
and of riches. Sometimes, to dazzle the 
eyes of an indigent nation, they made a pub- 
lic display of the sums destined by their 
masters to reward their partisans. Festivals 
rapidly succeeded one another in the towns 
where the diets assembled; and the people 
left their employments to give themselves^ 
up to the amusements abundantly provided 
for them,. The ambassadors, and still more 



48 

the persons in their train, gave the example 
of all kinds of excess. The tribunals were 
more than once called upon to punish crimes 
against which the laws of the country had 
enacted no penalties, and which the cri- 
minals affirmed that they had committed 
a.t the instigation of the sti^angers. The 
ancient union disappeared; some attached 
themselves to France, some to the pope, 
others to the emperor; thence enmities 
w^hich often became hereditary. In their 
councils, corruption often dictated mea- 
sures so contrary to the real interests of the 
nation, that even they who had proposed, 
did not dare to avov/ them.^ Emissaries 

P Conrad Hofman^ who during the wars of Milan 
occupied the post at Zurich conferred on Zwingle in 
1518^ publicly apostrophised the members of the senate 
in these words : ''^ In spite of your oaths you make alli- 
ances and conclude treaties which bring ti'ouble upon our 
country. Then, no one will bear the blame, each says 
it was not I who proposed it. They must then be de- 
mons who take your form and sit in your place. To 
satisfy yourselves of this, order the crier to sprinkle all 
who enter the council with holy water, that we may 
know whether they be men or devils." Bull. Schw. Chr. 
T. iii. 



49 

travelled through the country to enroll 
men in secret; sons were seen enlisting 
themselves against the will of their fathers, 
subjects against that of their goverments. 
The same factions which rent the interior 
of the country, reigned also in the armies, 
delayed their march, and paralyzed their 
operations. Torrents of blood were shed 
for interests foreign to those of Switzerland, 
and the warriors who escaped with life, 
brought back to their country bodies en- 
feebled by fatigue and sickness. At the 
same time the national character was in- 
jured, and the Swiss name was sullied by 
disgrace. Such was at this period the si- 
tuation of the cantons. The only way to 
preserve the country from its intestine di- 
visions and foreign wars, would have been 
to renounce all alliances ; but if this resolu- 
tion were sometimes taken in a moment of 
adversity, it was forgotten as soon as new 
hopes arose to revive the dormant passions. 
In vain did the upright and sagacious ear- 
nestly endeavour to enlighten their fellow 
countrymen; their pmdent representations 
were not so well received as the artful and 



50 

seductive insinuations of different party 
leaders, Zwingle was of the number of 
those who disapproved of all wars except 
for the defence of their country. Worthy 
himself of the first times of the Helvetic 
Confederacy, from his fidelity, frankness, 
and inaccessibility to corruption, he was 
desirous of reviving among his contempo- 
raries the spirit which had animated their 
forefathers : if he attended the campaigns 
of Italy, it was solely in obedience to the 
orders of his superiors.; and far from suffer- 
ing himself to be gained by the general 
contagion, the distressing scenes of which 
he was a witness, only served to confirm 
him in his principles; but the time was not 
yet come when the language of true patri- 
otism was to prevail over the suggestions 
of cupidity and ambition. 

A short time after his return from Milan, 
Zwingle was summoned to Einsiedeln.** 
This abbey is situated in a valley of the 
canton of Schweitz, of small extent, by no 
means fertile, surrounded with groves of 
willow, and commanded by lofty mountains. 

^ This was in 1516. V. Hott. H. E. vi. p. 369. 



51 

In the 9th century, this place was an almost 
inaccessible desert, called the Gloomy Forest. 
A monk named Meinrad, descended from 
the ancient house of HohenzoUen, finding 
himself too near the world in his monastery 
at Rapperschwyl,'' went and built a hermit- 
age and chapel in the midst of this forest. 
He had lived there twenty-six years in the 
austerities of the highest devotion, when 
some robbers, hoping to find ornaments of 
value in his chapel, murdered him, and were 
afterwards discovered in a miraculous man- 
ner, if we believe the tradition. It is said 
that two crows which the hermit had brought 
up, and which were his only companions, 
pursued the murderers as far as Zurich, 
where the sinister notes of the birds excit- 
ing suspicions against the two strangers, 
they were examined, became confused, and 
at length confessed the crime.' The tragi- 
cal end of Meinrad did not prevent other 
hermits from establishing themselves in 
the same place ; and towards the end of the 

^ A small town situated at the eastern extremity of the 
Lake of Zmich. 

* Hartmanni Annales Einsiedl. p. 11, et seq. 



52 

lOtli century, a canon of Strasburgh who 
was desirous of fixing himself in this soli- 
tude, formed the plan of replacing the her- 
mitage of the Gloomy Forest by a monas- 
tery.' He enclosed the ancient chapel in 
the new church, which he dedicated to the 
Virgin and the martyrs of the Theban le- 
gion." The building being finished, the 
bishop of Constance, the abbot of St. Gall, 
and several other neighbouring prelates, 
repaired to Einsiedeln to perform the inau- 
guration of the new convent. On the eve 
of the solemnity, in the middle of the 
night, the bishop of Constance thought he 
heard some sacred songs proceeding from 

* Hartmanni Annales Einsiedl. p, 58. 
" The legendaries place the martyrdom of this legion 
under Dioclesian and Maximian, towards the end of the 
third century. According to them, it was called the 
Theban from having been in gaiTison at Thebes in Egypt ; 
and it was wholly composed of christians. Maximian re- 
pairing to Gaul to quell a sedition,, took this legion with 
him. As he entered the Valais, he directed a sacrifice to 
Hercules, in which all the army was ordered to assist. 
Mauritius, the commander of the legion, and his soldiers, 
refused to join in itj and Maximian, in his wrath, caused 
them to be massacred near Agaunum, now St. Maurice. 



53 

the interior of the chapel. The next day 
he refused to consecrate it, and when, yield- 
ing at length to repeated entreaties, he 
would have begun the ceremony, he heard 
these words three times pronounced: 
*' Cease, cease, God has already made it 
holy."'' This tradition is very ancient, and 
a festival called the Consecration of the 
Angels, is observed every seven years in 
memory of the event."^ Several pontificial 
bulls authorise the church of Einsiedeln, 
on the day of the festival, to grant plenary 
indulgence for all sins, even those the ab- 
solution of which is reserved to the apos- 

^ Cessa, cessa, Jrater, divinitus capella consecrata est. 
Hartm. Ann. Eins. p. 51. 

^^ This event is attested by a bull of Leo VIII. cited 
by the historians of Einsiedeln. In a book entitled de 
secretis secretorumj we find still more extraordinary par- 
ticulars of this consecration. The author asserts that it 
was celebrated according to the rite of the Romish church 
by the Redeemer himself, assisted by angels, evangelists^ 
martyrs, and fathers of the church ; and that to perpe- 
tuate the memory of it, the Saviour impressed with the 
fingers of his right hand a stone at the entrance of the 
chapel. These miraculous marks were objects of adora- 
tion to pilgrims during three centuries, and subsisted till 
1802j when a part of the chapel was destroyed. 



54 

tolical see; and this special grace still, even 
in our times, attracts thither a number of 
pilgrims from the catholic cantons, and 
from Swabia, Alsace, and Lorraine. 

No sooner was the new monastery 
erected, than the nobility of Switzerland 
and Germany enriched it by their dona- 
tions. The emperors and popes vied with 
each other in endowing it with spiritual 
and temporal privileges; and under Ro- 
dolf of Hapsburg, the abbot of Einsiedeln 
already enjoyed the title and rights of a 
prince of the empire.'' The most ancient 
families emulously sought for their sons the 
honour of admission into this retreat, which 
they never quitted but to fill an episcopal 
seat. When the donations diminished, new 
resources were sought to increase the reve- 
nues of the abbey. An image of the Virgin 
which, according to the monks, was never 
invoked in vain, became the motive of 
numerous pilgrimages which began in the 
fourteenth century. From that time, we 
are assured that the miracles have never 
been discontinued. What is certain is, 

^ Engelweihe. 



55 

that for five centuries, down to the present 
day, men of all ranks and ages have visited 
this scene of devotion ; that they have en- 
riched it with their offerings, and that this 
convent has surpassed in wealth all the 
neighbouring ones, whose domains did not 
furnish an inexhaustible mine, like the cre- 
dulity of the people. 

When Zwingle repaired to Einsiendeln, 
the direction of the abbey was confided to 
Theobald baron of Geroldseck, one of the 
monks, who bore the title of administrator. 
Born of a noble family of that country, he 
had received, according to the custom of 
the times, an education more adapted to 
form a warrior than an ecclesiastic; but he 
loved letters, and was desirous of gaining 
the knowledge in which he was deficient. 
Being persuaded also that monasteries had 
been founded to serve as asylums for men 
devoted to study, and schools to form a 
learned priesthood, he was desirous of re- 
storing his abbey to its proper destination. 
With this intention, he collected around 
him men whose zeal and information 
fitted them to assist in accomplishing his 



66 

object/ He was anxious to associate Zwin- 
gle to his learned society, and therefore 
offered him the situation of preacher to the 
convent, which he accepted with pleasure. 
The duties of his new station would leave 
him much more leisure for study than he 
had enjoyed at Glaris; the power of com- 
municating his ideas to enlightened men, 
of listening to their objections, and enter- 
ing into discussions with them, was another 
advantage on which he set a high value; 
and he considered that under shadow of 
the protection of his friend the admini- 
strator, he might freely utter his opinions, 
and attack those doctrines, the evil ten- 
dency of which he thought he perceived. 

The inhabitants of Glaris saw him de- 
part with regret; and they kept his situa- 
tion vacant above two years, in hopes of his 
returning among them,^ which he perhaps 
would have done, had not Providence di- 
rected him to a theatre more favourable for 
the execution of the enterprize to which 
he was destined. 

y J. H. Hott. H. E. T. vi. p. 369. 
^ J. J, Hott. Helv. Kirchengesch. T. iii. p. 14, 



57 , 

Zwingle found at Einsiedeln several 
men who afterwards assisted him to intro- 
duce the reformation into Switzerland. Of 
this number were Francis Zingg, chaplain 
of the apostolical see, a very learned man, 
but fitter for solitary study than for the 
offices of public instruction; John Oechs- 
lein, a native of Einsiedeln, whose zeal was 
not cooled by the violent persecutions he 
afterwards experienced; and Leo Jude, an 
Alsacian, author of a German translation of 
the bible, and a faithful companion of 
Zwingle/ All these men felt an equal de- 
sire to increase their store of knowledge; 
and the conformity of their sentiments 
established among them an intimate con- 
nection. The library of Einsiedeln, con- 
siderably augmented by the care of Zwin- 
gle, was their favourite resort. Here they 
studied together the fathers of the church, 
whose works were just published by Eras- 
mus at Basil. They added the perusal of 
the works of Erasmus himself, and those of 
Capnio,'' both restorers of letters in Ger- 

^ J. J. Hott. 1. c. 
^' John Reuchlin, or Capnio, revived the study of 
Hebrew in Germany^ which he recommended as necessary 



6S 

many. They discussed the new and bold 
ideas of these great men ; traced them into 
their consequences, and subjected them to 
a severe examination. The new horizon 
which opened upon them as they advanced 
in their researches, produced different ef- 
fects upon them, according to their diffe- 
rent dispositions. One embraced with heat 
and enthusiasm all that appeared to him 
the truth; another, of a calmer temper, 
suspected the attraction of novelty; a third 
calculated the consequences to be expected 
from a change in received opinions. Each, 
in short, viewed the object in a different 
light: what escaped one, was perceived by 
another; and thus they were mutually en- 

to correct the faults of the Vulgate. The enemies of 
letters, offended at his zeal for the Hebrew, accused him 
of being more a jew than a christian ; they even surprised 
from the emperor an order, which happily was not exe- 
cuted, for destroying all the Hebrew books. Capnio 
composed in his justification an apology, which the uni- 
versities of Paris and Cologne ordered to be burnt. The 
author would probably have undergone the same fate, 
had he not found powerful protectors at the court of the 
^mperor and of Leo X. Capnio died at Stutgard in 1523, 
at a very advanced age. K Hermann von der Hardt. 
]H;ist. Lit. Ref p. 2d. 



59 

lightened and assisted. All were animated 
by that ardour which is only found at those 
periods when men awake from the slumber 
of ignorance and barbarism. When minds 
capable of beholding truth in all its splen- 
dor have caught some faint beams of it, 
they can no longer endure the night of 
superstition and prejudice; they burn to 
emerge completely ; and the resistance they 
experience, the obstacles they encounter, 
by irritating them, do but augment their 
force and inflame their courage. It is not 
so in more enlightened ages; it seems as if 
truth loses its charms in proportion as it 
becomes more accessible. We creep lan- 
guidly along a broad and smooth road which 
may be trod without effort, while we dart 
with impetuosity into the difficult path 
which leads us through brambles and 
thickets to its end. 

During his abode at Einsiedeln, Zwin- 
gle did not confine the activity of his mind 
to speculative studies; he made use of hi& 
influence over the administrator to engage 
him to make several reforms. He had no 
difficulty in convincing him that the wor- 



60 

ship paid to the inanimate remains of saints 
and martyrs was contrary to the spirit of 
Christianity. He equally succeeded in mak- 
ing his patron sensible of the evils of the 
popular belief that the pardon of sins may 
be procured by external practices, or bought 
for money. The administrator, wishing to 
destroy as far as was in his power all that 
served to maintain superstition, caused the 
inscription placed over the entrance of the 
abbey — " Here plenary remission of all sins 
is obtained," to be effaced,^ and gave orders 
that the reltes, the objects of the supersti- 
tious devotion of the pilgrims, should be 
buried. He afterwards introduced some 
change in the administration of a convent 
of nuns under his direction; he established 
new rules, abolished several observances, 
and obliged the nuns to read the New 
Testament in German, instead of reciting 
the Hours. He required of them an irre- 
proachable life, but he permitted such as 
did not feel in themselves a decided voca- 
tion to a religious life, to enter again into 

^ Hie est plena remissio omnium peccatorum culpa 
et poena. J. J. Hott. Helv. Kirch. T. iii. p. 2/. 



61 

the world and contract a legal union.'^ By 
degrees Zwingle endeavoured to diffuse his 
opinions beyond the circle of his intimate 
friends, and his double function of preacher 
and confessor furnished him with the 
means of so doing. Setting aside the ex- 
terior practices to which his colleagues 
attached so much importance, he required 
of his penitents a sincere repentance, new- 
ness of life, and reparation of injuries, as 
conditions indispensable to be fulfilled, if 
they wished to partake in the benefit of 
redemption, and without which all their 
genuflexions, prayers, and mortifications, 
could not reconcile them with God. In 
those exercises of piety designed for the 
instruction of his own parishioners and 
stranger pilgrims, he seized opportunities 
of establishing and explaining principles 
incompatible with received prejudices, but 
which he left it to his audience to apply. 
When he judged their minds sufficiently 
prepared, he resolved to strike a decisive 
blow ; and for this purpose he selected the 
very day on which was celebrated the fes- 

^ Bull. Schw. Chr. T. ili. C. 



6^ 

tival of the Angels' consecration, which al- 
ways attracted an immense crowd to Ein-^ 
siedeln. In the midst of this numerous 
assembly, Zwingle mounted the pulpit to 
pronounce the customary discourse.^ By 
an exordium full of warmth and feeling he 
disposed the audience to collectedness and 
attention ; then proceeding to the occasion 
which had brought them together in that 
church, he deplored their blindness in the 
choice of the means which they employed 
to please the deity. " Cease to believe," 
cried he, " that God resides in this temple 
more than in every other place. Whatever 
region of the earth you may inhabit, he is 
near you, he surrounds you, he grants your 
prayers, if they deserve to be granted; but 
it is not by useless vows, by long pilgri- 
mages, offerings destined to adorn senseless 
images, that you can obtain the divine fa- 
vour : resist temptations, repress guilty de- 
sires, shun all injustice, relieve the unfor- 
tunate, console the afflicted; these are the 
works pleasing to the Lord. Alas ! I know 

^ Bull. Schw. Chr. T. ui. D. Zuinglii, Cp. T. i. 
f. 349. 



63 

it; it is ourselves, ministers of the altar, wc 
who ought to be the salt of the earth, who 
have led into a maze of error the ignorant 
and credulous multitude. In order to ac- 
cumulate treasures sufficient to satisfy our 
avarice, we raised vain and useless practices 
to the rank of good works; and the chris- 
tians of these times, too docile to our in- 
structions, neglect to fulfil the laws of God, 
and only think of making atonement for 
their crimes, instead of renouncing them. 
• Let us live according to our desires,' say 
they, * let us enrich ourselves with the 
goods of our neighbour; let us not fear to 
stain our hands with blood and murder; we 
shall find easy expiations in the favour of 
the church.' Senseless men ! Do they think 
to obtain remission for their hes, then- im- 
purities, their adulteries, their homicides, 
their treacheries, by prayers recited in ho- 
nour of the Queen of Heaven, as if she 
were the protectress of all evildoers? Un- 
deceive yourselves, erring people! The 
God of justice suffers not himself to be 
moved by w^ords which the tongue utters 
and the heart disowns. He forgives no one 



64 

but him who hmiself forgives the enemy 
who has trespassed against him. Did these 
chosen of God at whose feet you come hi- 
ther to prostrate yourselves, enter into 
heaven by relying on the merit of another? 
No, it was by walking in the path of the 
law, by fulfilling the will of the Most 
High, by facing death that they might re- 
main faithful to their Redeemer. Imitate 
the holiness of their lives, walk in their 
footsteps, suffering yourselves to be turned 
aside neither by dangers nor seductions; 
this is the honour that you ought to pay 
them. But in the day of trouble put your 
trust in none but God, who created the 
heavens and the earth with a w^ord: at the 
approach of death invoke only Christ Jesus, 
who has bought you with his blood, and 
is the sole Mediator between God and 
man." 

Language so unexpected produced im- 
pressions difficult to describe : admiration 
and indignation were painted alternately 
on every face while Zwingle was speaking; 
and when at leno:th the orator had con- 
eluded his discourse, a confused murmur 



65 

betrayed the deep emotions he had ex- 
cited. Their expression was restrained at 
first by the hoHness of the place, but as 
soon as they could be freely vented, some, 
guided by prejudice or personal interest, 
declared themselves against this new doc- 
trine; others, and those were the greater 
number, felt a new light breaking in upon 
them, and applauded what they had heard 
with transport. Some pilgrims were even 
seen to carry back their offerings,^ a cir- 
cumstance which exasperated the monks 
against Zwingle, by making them appre- 
hend the diminution of their revenues. 
The neighbouring convents shared in their 
animosity, and began to spread injurious 
reports of the reformer. It does not ap- 
pear, however, that this discourse of Zwin- 
gle drew upon him the displeasure of his 
ecclesiastical superiors. On the contrary, 
we find at this period a proof of the favour 
he enjoyed, in a diploma sent him by 
Leo X. which gave him the title of chap- 
lain acolyte to the Holy See.^ Zwingle had 

' J. J. Hott. Helv. Kirch. T. iii. p. 26. 
*■ Hott. H. E. T. vi. p. 274. 



66 

taken no steps to obtain this distinction, 
but owed it to his increasing reputation. 
The pope was desirous of attaching to his 
interest such men as possessed any interest 
in their own country ; and his legate, Antonio 
Pucci, had mentioned Zwingle to him as 
an ecclesiastic, who might become useful 
in the court of Rome, both as a preacher, 
and from his connections in different Can- 
tons. There was, besides, no reason to 
think him an enemy of the Holy See. The 
abuses that he attacked were rather tole- 
rated than approved by the church: at all 
times the popes had shoAvn themselves in- 
dulgent towards new opinions, provided 
they did not trench upon their authority ; 
and the conduct of Zwingle did not as yet 
indicate any design to withdraw himself 
from its control. Before the discourse 
pronounced at Einsiedeln, Zwingle had 
written to Hugh of Landenberg, bishop of 
Constance, desiring him to put an end in 
his diocese to a number of puerile and dan- 
gerous practices, which might at length 
produce irremediable evils.^ He spoke to 

t Bull. Schw. Chr. T. iii. D. 



67 

the same effect to the cardinal of Sion; 
and in the freedom of conversation un- 
folded to him his ideas of the necessity of 
a general reform. 

" The new lights," said he, " which have 
been diffused since the revival of letters, 
have lessened the credulity of the people, 
are opening their eyes to a number of su- 
perstitions, and will prevent them from 
blindly adopting what is taught them by 
priests equally destitute of virtue and of 
talent. They begin loudly to blame the 
idleness of the monks, the ignorance of the 
priests, and the misconduct of the prelates, 
and will no longer give their confidence to 
people whom they cannot respect. If care 
be not taken, the multitude will soon lose 
the only curb capable of restraining its 
passions, and will go on from one disorder 
to another. The danger increases every 
day, and delay may be fatal. A reforma- 
tion ought to be begun immediately, but 
it ought to begin with superiors, and spread 
from them to their inferiors. If the princes 
of the church would give the example; if 
they would return to themselves and to a 
f2 



d8 

conduct more conformable to the gospel; 
if bishops were no longer seen to handle 
the sword instead of the crozier ; prelates to 
put themselves at the head of their sub- 
jects, in order to wage inveterate wars 
against each other; ecclesiastics of all 
ranks to dissipate in scandalous debauchery 
the revenues of their benefices accumulated 
upon their heads ; then, we might raise our 
voices against the vices of the laity with- 
out fearing their recriminations, and we 
might indulge some hopes of the amend- 
ment of the people. But a reform in man- 
ners is impossible, if you do not get rid of 
those swarms of pious idlers who feed at 
the expense of the industrious citizen, and 
if you do not abolish those superstitious 
ceremonies and absurd dogmas equally cal- 
culated to shock the understanding of rea- 
sonable men, and to alarm the piety of re- 
ligious ones." 

Zwingle made these representations 
with a zeal proportioned to the impor- 
tance of the subject: he conjured the car- 
dinal of Sion to engage the pope to give 
his serious attention to the wounds of the 



69 

church, and received his assurances, that on 
his return to Rome he vv^ould take every 
means to obtain from Leo X. such a refor- 
mation as was generally desired.'' This 
promise, sincere perhaps at the time, pro- 
duced no effect. As soon as Schinner 
plunged again into the vortex of political 
affairs, ambition resumed all her influence 
over him, and that passion he could not 
hope to gratify by adopting and forwarding 
the ideas of Zwingle: neither was Leo 
himself disposed to listen to any plan 
of reform. To confirm and augment the 
power of his family, to render his pontifi- 
cate illustrious by splendid monuments, to 
grant a generous protection to the arts and 
sciences, and to maintain an important rank 
among the potentates of Europe, were the 
objects to which his views were directed.* 
Absorbed by his ambitious projects, he had 
neither leisure nor inclination to occupy 
himself with the spiritual interests of the 
church.'^ A pontiff accustomed to clothe 

^' Zuinglii Op. T. i. S. 230. 
^ Roscoe's Life and Pontificate of Leo X. 
^ Fra Paola Storia del concilia di Trento^ L. i. PalJa- 
vicini concil. di Trento. L. i. c. ii. 



70 

himself in regal pomp, was not fitted for 
the stern duties of a reformer, and Leo had 
already proved, by rewarding frivolous ta- 
lents with high ecclesiastical dignities,^ how 
far he had departed from the severe prin- 
ciples of the ancient church. The cardinal 
of Sion knew the pope too well to offer 
schemes of reform to him; and this step 
of Zwingle's had no other effect than to 
give the cardinal a high idea of his zealous 
spirit, and enlightened understanding. 

In the meantime, the reputation of 
Zwingle as a theologian and friend of letters 
went on increasing day by day. He kept 
up a regular correspondence with Erasmus, 
John Faber, grand vicar of the bishop of 
Constance, Henry Lorit, or Glareanus, 
Gaspar Hedio, Wolfgang Capito, Beatus 
Rhenanus, and others too numerous to 
mention. The letters of these learned men 
are filled with commendations of his know- 
ledge, of the services rendered by him to 
the church, and the ardour with which he 
acquitted himself of his ministry; they 
contain unequivocal testimonies of the 

^ Fabron. vita Leonis X. 



71 

general esteem which he had been able to 
conciHate, and of the hopes entertained of 
him by his friends."" 

Among the Swiss with whom Zwingle 
contracted intimacies during his residence 
at Einsiedeln, Oswald Myconius, teacher 
of the dead languages in the school of 
Zurich, deserves to be first named. This 
learned Lucernese was endeavouring to 
spread the light lately diifused over Italy 
and Germany by the great men of those 
tAvo countries; and being earnestly desir- 
ous of drawing Zwingle into his immediate 
circle, he profited of the first favourable 
opportunity, afforded by the vacancy of 
the situation of preacher in the cathedral, 
to offer to the chapter the services of his 
friend. Zwingle, in his former journeys 
to Zurich, had made himself advantage- 
ously known to the inhabitants of that 
city. Several of the clergy had learned 
how to appreciate his merit; they promised 
themselves some happy effects from the 
preaching of a man so courageous in open- 
ly attacking the vices of the age, and 

'" Hott E. T. vi. p, 28. 243. 323. 404. 5ig, 5gi. 



72 

they hoped that a part of his reputation 
would overflow upon the church to which 
he should be attached. These considera- 
tions determined the choice of the chapter 
in favour of Zwingle, and he obtained the 
vacant place." His election was notified 
to him on the 11 th of December 1518; and 
a few days after he repaired to his new 
post, severely regretted by the parishioners 
whom he quitted, by his faithful protector 
the baron of Geroldseck, and by the 
friends whose society had rendered so de- 
lightful to him the rustic solitude of Ein- 
siedeln. The landammann and council of 
the Canton of Schweitz, in whose territory 
the abbey is situated, addressed a letter to 
him upon his nomination, conceived in the 
most touching and honourable terms.° It 
was not without regret that Zwingle ex- 
changed his calm retreat for an agitated 
life, in which he foresaw that he should 
have combats to maintain and rocks to 
avoid; but he flattered himself that at 
Zurich he might be more useful than in the 

n Bull. Schw. Chr. T. iii. E. 
« J. H. Hott. Hist. Ecel. T. vi. p. 359, 



73 

narrow sphere of a monastery, and this 
prospect consoled him for the expected loss 
of his repose. During the three years of 
his abode at Einsiedeln, his ideas had ac- 
quired the maturity that they wanted; an 
intimate conviction had taken place of his 
doubts and uncertainties, and he felt an 
urgent call to diffuse the light which had 
illuminated his soul. A wide career was 
now open before him, and he arrived at 
Zurich full of hope and ardour. 

Before we continue this narrative, it 
seems advisable to give an idea of the place 
which was henceforth to become the dwell- 
ing of the reformer, and the centre whence 
the reformation was to spread into every 
part of Switzerland. 

The cit}^ of Zurich owxs its origin to 
two pious foundations which go as far back 
as the time of Charlemagne. By an act 
dated 810,^ the emperor founded there a 
college of canons to serve the church 
already established, and endowed it with 
several Imperial fiefs. Forty years after, 
Louis the Germanic caused a convent for 

P Hott H. E. T. vi.p. 382. 



74 

women to be built in the neighbourhood of 
the collegiate church, of which his daugh- 
ters Hildegard and Bertha were the first 
abbesses. He ceded to the abbey the lands 
that he possessed in the vicinity, exempted 
it from all foreign jurisdiction,*^ and entrust- 
ed the administration of its revenues to an 
advocaW whose office was united with that 
of Imperial prefect.' By degrees a town 
arose about the monasteries, inhabited by 
persons belonging to the collegiate church, 
or the revenue offices, by serfs who had 
purchased their freedom, and by some no- 
bles of French or German origin, who filled 
various posts in the service of the abbey. 
The population rapidly increased under the 
shadow of ecclesiastical protection, and in 
the 12th century we already discover some 
traces of a council composed of the inha- 
bitants of the new city, and named by the 
advocate of the abbey. The powers of 
this council were very narrow, being con- 
fined to the judgment of civil causes. The 
same administration subsisted till the pe- 

' Hott. 1. c. ^ Advocatus, in German Kastvogt. 

s Reichsvogt. 



IS 

riod of the contests between pope Gregory 
IX. and the emperor Frederic II. This 
emperor, long the object of the persecu- 
tions of the Holy See, heaped privileges on 
the cities of the empire at the expense of 
the clergy, in order by this means to lessen 
the power of the natural allies of his enemy. 
By way of recompensing the inviolable 
fidelity of the burghers of Zurich towards 
him,* he freed them from their dependance 
on the abbey, ordered that in future they 
should only hold of the empire," and 
granted them the right of choosing their 
own magistrates. He left to the abbess only^ 
the nomination of the civil tribunal, but 
allowed her still to enjoy her rights and 
royalties throughout her own demesnes. In 
virtue of the decree of Frederic, a council 
was created to govern the rising republic, 
consisting of thirty-six members, divided 

* They remained faithful to Frederic although the 
pope had excommunica.ted him, and forbidden all priests 
to administer the sacraments to those who should refuse 
to make war upon the emperor. Hott. H. E. viii. 
p. 1201. 

^' In 1248. 



76 

into three sections, each of which remained 
in office four months. In ] 336, the burgh- 
ers, being discontented with the arbitrary 
conduct of the council, and the maladmi- 
nistration of the public money, abolished 
this form of goverment, and, in imitation of 
several towns in Germany, the inhabitants 
were divided into twelve tribes according 
to the arts and trades which they exercised; 
a thirteenth was added, composed of the 
nobles, the ecclesiastics, and those who 
lived on their fortunes. Each tribe fur- 
nished a given number of citizens to form 
a small council of fifty members, and a 
great one of two hundred. The executive 
power was entrusted to the former, the 
latter, invested with legislative power, was 
the representative of the sovereign, or ge- 
neral assembly, which, in ordinary times, 
was only convoked to take an oath of obe- 
dience to the councils.^ The authors of 
this constitution certainly did not think of 
balancing with accuracy the different 
powers of the state ; but they appear to 
have divined very well, in their simplicity, 

" J. C. Fuesslini Epit. Hist. Helv. Ant. L. ii. p. 115. 



11 

what would suit the character of their de- 
scendents, since these preserved the work 
of their forefathers, almost without altera- 
tion, during a period of five centuries^ 
The changes made in the internal govern- 
ment of Zurich had no influence upon its 
connection with the Germanic body, the 
heads of which continued to exercise their 
rights through the medium of an Imperial 
prefect. The privileges granted to the 
city by several emperors inseiisibly re- 
duced the functions of this officer to the 
administration of criminal justice ; and at 
length, in 1400, the emperor Wenceslas 
permitted the council to exercise the office 
of the prefect by one of its members.'' 
After this period, Zurich enjoyed all the 
rights of sovereignty, but its power did not 
yet extend beyond the circuit of its own 
walls. It was not till the 15th century 
that the city began little by little to form 
a territory, partly by purchase, partly by 
conquest, and partly by receiving into the 

'^ This constitution was overturned in 1798, 
'^ Hott. Spic. Helv. Tig. p. 132. 



78 

number of its citizens several nobles who 
voluntarily ceded to it their seignorial 
rights; but till the reformation, the two 
monasteries above mentioned preserved 
their particular jurisdiction, and maintained 
their independence. When Charlemagne 
founded a college of canons at Zurich, it 
Avas certainly his object to form a centre of 
knowledge which might serve to enlighten 
this half barbarous country. It is well 
known that the advancement of learning 
was always a favourite object with this 
great prince, but unfortunately the im- 
pulse that he gave to his age, ceased with 
his life, and after his time the greater part 
of his foundations rapidly degenerated, and 
became asylums for idleness. 

During more than four hundred years, 
the canons of Zurich failed to answer the 
intention of their founder. It is not till the 
middle of the 13th century that the docu- 
ments of the chapter make mention of the 
creation of a 7Xctoi\ charged with the of- 
fice of regulating all that concerned the 
schools, as he should think most suitable 



19 

to the glory of God, and the utility of the 
church.^ At the same time, in 1259, the 
chapter elected a chanter, designed to pre- 
side over the choir, and teach church 
singing, which was then an important part 
of A^orship. Conrad de Mure was the first 
person invested with this office; he was 
an indefatigable writer, and composed a 
great number of works in prose and 
verse, of which only two remain. One is 
a dictionary of proper names, intended to 
facilitate the understanding of the ancient 
poets; in this work, history, sacred and 
profane, mythology, legend, all are heaped 
together without discernment; but if 
this compilation gives an idea little fa- 
vourable to the taste and criticism of the 
author, it does honour at least to his eru- 
dition. His other work is a poem in praise 
of Rodolph of Hapsburgh; it has nothing 
of poetry but the meter, and does not rise 
above the productions of the monks of that 
time.'' 

It does not appear that the example of 

y Hott. de origine Scholae Tig. p. 17. 
^ J. H. Hott. Bibl. Tig. p. 151. 



80 

this industrious man encouraged his col- 
leagues to employ themselves in literary 
labours ; for after him, a century and a half 
elapsed without the appearance of any work 
composed by a member of the church of 
Zurich. This indolence is bitterly deplored 
by Felix Malleolus, who, in 1450, occupied 
one of the first places in the chapter, and 
strove to render his knowledge useful to 
his fellow citizens. Full of ardour as he 
was in the cause of science and literature, 
he could not witness without indignation 
the ignorance and laziness of his col- 
leagues. The censures upon them in which 
he indulged himself, his declamation against 
the mendicant orders, and his satires upon 
the unfaithful depositories of justice, made 
him violent enemies. These succeeded in 
blackening him to the bishop of Constance, 
who caused him to be carried off from his 
own house and thrown into a dungeon, 
which he only left to be immured in a 
cloister during the rest of his life.^ Among 
the numerous works of Felix Malleolus on 
theology, jurisprudence, history and phy- 

'^ Hott Helv. Kirch, ii. p. 334. 



81 

§ics, we meet with some new and profound 
ideas, amid a farago of absurd and super- 
stitious ones, which must be attributed ra- 
ther to his age than himself. "" The unfor- 
tunate end of this learned man was calcu- 
lated to deter from the same career such 
as might otherwise have distinguished 
themselves in it. Accordingly, the latter 
half of the 15th century proved as barren 
as the former had been; letters remained 
at Zurich in the same state of neglect, and 
the school of the collegiate church for ele- 
mentary instruction in the learned lan- 
guages, remained the only establishment 
for education. Towards the beginning of 
the l6th century, some of the young men 
began to frequent foreign universities ; and 
the knowledge which they brought home 
assisted the progress of the reformation. 
The cure of souls was committed to a clergy 
so ignorant that the pastors scarcely knew 
how to read and write; most of them con- 
tented themselves with administering the 
sacraments, and left preaching and teaching 
to the monks, who had the temporal inte- 

^ Hott. Bibl.Tig. Art. ^VTaUMus, 



82 

rests of their convents much more at heart 
than the edification of their audience. The 
jealousies that divided these monks, their 
quarrels, their excesses, and their vices, 
scandalized the pious; and the puerilities 
with which they filled their sermons, ren- 
dered them ridiculous in the eyes of men 
of sense. 

When the ministers of religion possess, 
neither the virtues nor the talents neces- 
sary to fulfil their office with dignity, their 
degradation insensibly destroys the respect 
due to religion; for the thoughtless and 
the vicious are ever disposed to confound 
in the same sentence of contempt, him who 
teaches the doctrine, and the doctrine it- 
self. Religion had become an object of 
derision to some, of indifference to others, 
and the vulgar were only acquainted with 
its outward practices; it had thus ceased 
to afford a support to morals, which had 
received but too many shocks from other 
causes. Connexions with other countries, 
and the contagion of bad examples, had 
caused the severity of ancient manners to 
disappear. The gold dispersed by the 



S3 

powers who were intriguing for the alli- 
ance of Switzerland, had made its inhabi- 
iaiits acquainted with new enjoyments; 
these enjoyments had in their turn excited 
new desh'es, to satisfy which, the most cul- 
pable means were resorted to without scru- 
ple. Envy, bad faith, and insubordination 
in the poor; pride, insolence and avarice 
in the rich, had taken place of the virtues 
of other times; and the venality of many 
of the magistrates, by depriving the govern- 
ment of all respect, threatened the state 
with approaching destruction/ These par- 
ticulars are sufficient to show how many 
changes were at this time required at 
Zurich. Letters wanted a restorer; both 
the governors and governed an intrepid 
censor, who should dare to recall them to 
their mutual duties ; and fainting religion, 

^ An author ' of that time affirms that there were 
magistrates in Switzerland who received the pay of two 
or three princes at once. It appears however that at this 
period men in place had very different principles respect- 
ing this matter from ours. Cardinal Wolsey, while he 
was the minister and favourite of Henry VIII. received 
pensions at the same time from Charles V. and Francis I, 
Vid. Rpbertson's Hist, of Charles" V. 



84 

an orator capable of rekindling its ardour^ 
and restoring its influence upon manners. 
Providence appeared to have destined 
Zwingle to fulfil this task, and we shall 
endeavour to show in what manner he ac- 
quitted himself of it. 

A few days after his arrival at Zurich, 
Zwingle was summoned before the chapter 
to be installed in his new employment. 
He gave notice that in his discourses he 
should desert the order of the dominical 
lessons,*^ and that he should explain in un- 
interrupted series the books of the New 
Testament, in order to make his auditors 
acquainted with the whole contents of this 
divine book ; and he promised to have no- 
thing in view in his sermons but " the 
glory of God and the instruction and edifi- 
cation of the faithful."* The majority of 

** The do7n.imcal lessons ai'e the texts of scripture 
ordered for each Sunday and saint's days, and are the 
same every year. Some writers attribute their institution 
to Alcuin, the preceptor of Charlemagne ; others to Paulus 
Diaconus. In the early ages of Christianity the books of 
the New Testament were explained to the people in suc- 
cession, without restraint to a particular choice. 
« Bull. Schw. Chr, T. iii. A. 



85 

the chapter approved of this plan; some 
however regarded it as an innovation 
likely to produce dangerous consequences, 
Zwingle replied to their objections '^ that 
he was only returning to the practice of 
the primitive church, which had been re- 
tained down to the time of Charlemagne; 
that he should observe the method made 
use of by the fathers of the church in their 
homilies, and that by divine assistance he 
hoped to preach in such a manner that no 
friend of gospel truth should find reason to 
complain."^ On the 1st of January 151 9? 
the day on which he entered his 35th year, 
Zwingle preached his first sermon, conform- 
ably to the plan that he had announced 
to his superiors, and which he constantly 
followed ever after. The novelty of this 
kind of preaching procured him a crowd of 
auditors: mere curiosity attracted some; 
the desire of instruction and edification in- 
spired others. Zwingle took advantage of 
the first impression, and did not suffer it to 
cool; he inveighed against superstition and 
hypocrisy; insisted on the necessity of 

* Bull. 1. c. 



$6 

amendment; tliupdered- against idli^jifs^, 
intemperance, the excesses of luxury, and 
the passion for foreign service; he enjoined 
the magistrates to distribute impartial jus- 
tice, and to protect widows and orphan^; 
and he exhorted them to preserve Helvetic 
liberty inviolate, by shutting their ^ar^ 
to the seductive insinuations of ambi- 
tion. 

Notwithstanding the severity of his 
jnorality and the depravity of his audience, 
he found some disciples ready to listen to 
his voice. Truth, from the hps of a sincere 
and fervent orator, makes its way through 
all the obstacles raised by the passions. 
Magistrates, ecclesiastics, men of all classes, 
touched by his reproaches, felt themselves 
irresistibly attracted hj that very circum- 
stance to hear his sermons, and rendered 
thanks to God for having sent them this 
preacher of the truth.^ It may well be 
Relieved that this approbation was not 
general Men attached to their private 
interests., to their opinions, to their vices, 
could not love so severe a censor, and they 

s Bull. Schw. Chr. T. iii. B. 



87 

took pains to render him odious. Some- 
times they depicted him as a knave, who, 
by his hypocritical preachings, was aiming 
to destroy the respect and submission of 
subjects for their magistrates* sometimes 
they represented him as a fanatic, whose 
unbounded pride led him to put his own 
reveries in the place of the decisions of 
the church; sometimes they treated him 
as a man destitute of religion and morals^ 
who was sapping the foundations of piety 
and virtue, and would end by overturning 
the state, unless silence were imposed upon 
him. These clamours were not able either 
to intimidate Zwingle, or to diminish the 
authority he had acquired; an authority 
which made itself strongly felt on occa- 
sion of an event that we are about to 
relate. 

In the year 1518, Leo X. sent into Swit- 
zerland the Franciscan Bernardine Sam- 
son, to whom he had intrusted the power 
of absolving from all sin such christians as 
should contribute by their pious gifts to the 
completion of St. Peter's chuch.*' This was 

^ Pallavic. Storia del Cons, di Trento^ i. IQ. 



S8 

a commission difficult to execute. Every 
time that the popes had pubhshed extra- 
ordinary indulgencies they had experienced 
a strong opposition on the part of the 
bishops, parish priests, and confessors, who 
looked upon this step as an invasion of 
their rights. Samson therefore expected 
an obstinate resistance, but he possessed 
address sufficient to surmount the obstacles 
that he might ha^ve to encounter. In the 
4:owns where he expected to make any 
jconsiderabie stay, he had the precaution 
previously to conciliate the favour of some 
persons of influence, and by this means he 
prepared men's minds to receive him as 
the dispenser of the treasures of grace.^ 
The artifices of all kinds that he employed 
succeeded, in spite of the impudence with 
which he acquitted himself of his ministry, 
of which a single trait v/ill give a sufficient 
idea. In order to disperse an importunate 
crowd of paupers who flocked around him 
whenever he appeared in public, he caused 
his attendants to cry out with a loud voice ; 
?' Let the rich come near first, who cam 

i Hott. H.E. vi. 336. 



89 

buy the pardon of their sins ; after they 
are satisfied, the prayers of the poor shall 
also be attended to."^ At Bern all doors 
were at first closed against him; but by 
force of intrigues he contrived to procure 
admittance, and immediately men of all 
conditions began to purchase indulgences. 
Samson assured them that the power of 
the pope was unlimited both in heaven and 
on earth; that he had at his disposal the 
treasure of the blood of Jesus Christ and 
the martyrs; that he had the right of re- 
mitting both sin and penance, and that the 
sinner would participate in divine grace 
the moment his money was heard to chink in 
the bo.v} By virtue of these powers, the 
Franciscan granted plenary absolution both 
to individuals and communities;™ he par- 

k Bull. Schw. Chr. T. iii. B. Bullinger however 
observes^, that these expressions scandalized worthy and 
pious minds. 

» J. J. Kott. Helv. Kirch. T. iii. p. 31. 

™ The rate of absolution for Individuals was six sous 
for the poor, and a crown for the rich ; those for com- 
munities were much dearer. A nobleman of Bern gave 
a valuable house as the price of absolution for himself, his 



90 

cloned both past sins and those that u^ere yet 
to be committed; he sold bulls which au- 
thorised their owners to choose a confessor 
who might release them from, their vows, 
excuse them from the performance of their 
promises, and even absolve them from the 
guilt of perjury." 

From Bern, Samson proceeded to Baden 
in Argovia; he there also met with many 
partizans, but it was there that a stop was 
put to the success of his mission. As soon 
as the bishop of Constance learned that an 
emissary from Rome had ventured to pub- 
lish indulgences in his diocese unautho- 
rized by him, he ordered all the parish 
priests under his jurisdiction to shut their 
churches against him, and he exhorted 
Zwingie in particular to support the rights 
of his spiritual superior. Zwingie had not 
A\^aited for the exhortation of the bishop to 
begin enlightening the minds of his parish- 
ioners respecting indulgences. This dis- 
graceful traffic shocked him less as an in- 

ancestors^ and the subjects on his estates. Stetl. Chron= 

L. xi. 

" Stetl. ib.— Hott. H. E. vli. 105. 



91 

Vasion of episcopal rights, than as an insult 
to good sense and sound reason ; and it was 
principally under this view that he had 
combated it. 

Since the arrival of Samson in Zurich, 
Zwingle had never ceased to declare how 
absurd and even impious it appeared to him 
to attempt, by establishing a ratio between 
crimes and money, to lull the consciences 
of men into a fatal security. His exhorta- 
tions and arguments made a great impres- 
sion on the people of Zurich, and induced 
them to stop their ears to the seductions 
of the wily Franciscan. He even suc- 
ceeded in imparting his own sentiments 
to the deputies of the thirteen Cantons, 
T/ho happened to be then assembled at 
Zurich. Samson however repaired to 
Bremgarten, a small town four leagues 
from Zurich, where he was received by 
the magistrates; but Henry Buliinger, the 
parish priest, represented to him that hi^ 
powers not being backed hy the sanction 
of the bishop, he could not allow him en- 
trance into his church. In vain did Sam- 
son threaten him with the anger of the 



pontiff and that of the Cantons, which, as 
he said, had loaded him with honours, 
BuUinger was neither to be shaken by his 
words, nor by an excommunication in form 
which was lanced against him ; he persisted 
in his refusal," and Samson pursued his way 
to Zurich. Public opinion had already de- 
clared against him in the city; but as he 
affirmed that he was charged with a par- 
ticular mission from the pope to the Can- 
tons, he was allowed to appear before the 
diet. The falsehood of the pretext that he 
had employed being discovered, the diet 
ordered him to quit Zurich and the y\^hole 
Swiss territory without delay, and required 

° The history of this ecclesiastic proves that great 
regularity of conduct was not then required of the clergy. 
Although a priest, and dean of a rural chapter, he lived 
publicly with a woman by whom he had five sons who 
bore his name. He educated them at home, and their 
illegitimate birth did not injure his reputation. He after- 
wards embraced the reform, and repaired to Zurich, 
where, at the age of sixty, he married the mother of his 
children, one of whom was the author of the Helvetic 
Clironicle, frequently cited in this work. Miscellanea 
Tigur. ii, Ausgabe. p. 4. See also J. J. Hott. Hely. 
Kii-ching, T. ii. p. 851. 



95 

him to take off the excommunication laid 
upon the priest of Bremgarten. He con- 
sented, for fear they should make reprisals 
in case of his refusal, by detaining the 
money that he had amassed; after which 
he made a hasty retreat into Italy.^ The 
infatuation that he had excited began to 
give way; men blushed to have been duped 
by his artifices, and the reputation of 
Zwingle received a fresh addition from the 
resistance of the inhabitants at Zurich.'^ 

Many writers have regarded the quarrel 
respecting indulgences as the principal 
cause of the reformation, because it gave 
occasion to Zwingle and Luther to set 
themselves openly in opposition to the v/ill 
of the pope;' but we have seen, that before 
the arrival of Samson in Switzerland, 
Zv/ingle had felt the necessity of a reform 

P Bull. Schw. Chr. T. iii. B. 
1 Sleidan. L. i. sub finem. 
^ ^' The vanity of a pope who was desirous of asso- 
ciating his name with the completion of an immortal mo- 
numentj and the choice that he made of one religious 
order to the exclusion of another^ were the first and 
true causes of Lutheranism." French Mercury, 1S08;, 
No. 353^ p. 181. 



94 

in the worship, doctrine, and discipline of 
the church; and when the v/hole of his 
history is viewed together, his resistance 
to Samson appears an insulated fact which 
exerted no direct influence over succeeding 
events. 

Luther stood no more in need than 
Zwingle of any peculiar stimulus, and in 
order to find the origin of his opinions; we 
must trace him back beyond the moment 
when he first appeared before the public. 
The reading of the New Testament which 
fell casually into his hands at the age of 
eighteen,' inspired him with doubts re- 
specting several doctrines of the Romish 
Ghureh; the works of Saint Augustine, 
which he diligently studied, led him to 
reject the opinion of his age respecting 
justification; and a journey that he made 
to Rome, by giving him a nearer view of the 
wickedness which prevailed around the pon- 
tificial chair,* weakened his respect for the 
pope's authority. The opinions of Luther 
altered by degrees, and the influence of 

* M. Adami Vitas Theol. p. 103, 
t lb. p. 1G5. 



'95 

the new system he had formed was per- 
ceptible long before the publication of his 
famous theses/ in the lectures that he de- 
livered before the university of Wittem- 
berg. The sale of indulgences only fur- 
nished him with an opportunity of break- 
ing forth; but the regular course of his 
ideas would have brought him, sooner or 
later, to a rupture with the partisans of the 
pope, even had Tetzel'' never excited his 
indignation. 

A revolution like that of the l6th cen- 
tury can never depend on a single eventj 
or a single man; it requires the concur- 
rence of a multitude of causes which have 
long acted in silence, and prepared the 
minds of men for important changes. Se- 
veral theologians before Luther and Zwin- 
gle had made attempts at a reformation^ 
but none succeeded, because they endea- 
voured to cure the disease before it had 

" In ]517. 
-'' John Tetzel^ a Dominican, fulfilled the same mis- 
sion in Germany with which Samson was charged in 
Switzerland. V. Seckendorf. Hist. Lutheranismi, L. i, 
ad annum 1518. M. Adami Vitas Theol. Germ. p. 105, 



96 

come to its crisis. All these paid for thei^ 
attempts with their lives, their liberty, or 
at least their repose, but the ideas diiFused 
by them were preserved. They were seeds 
which only awaited a favourable season to 
spring up; they were hidden fires that the 
first breath would kindle to a blaze. If 
Berenger, Arnold of Brescia, WicklifF, 
John lluss, and Jerome of Prague, sunk 
under the attempt to introduce some re- 
forms into the church, it was because in 
their time ignorance was still too general, 
and men were accustomed blindly to follow 
in the general direction, and refused to 
listen to those who would have pointed out 
a new course; the clergy, whose interest it 
was to support the old system, enjoyed 
sufficient influence to put a stop in their 
beginnings to all enterprizes which threa- 
tened their privileges, and the authority of 
the Holy See was still sufficiently powerful 
to crush all who dared to lift up a hand 
against her. But in the course of the 14th 
and 15th centuries, the obstacles which 
at an earlier period would have opposed a 
reformation, gradually became weaker. 



97 

The increasing prosperity of towns, aug- 
mented the number of citizens whose easy 
circumstances gave them leisure and am- 
bition for its distinctions, and the estabhsh- 
ment of several new universities multiplied 
the means of instruction. While the circle 
of knowledge was every day enlarging, 
the clergy, given up to indolence and liceit- 
tiousness, were daily losing in general re- 
spect, and disabling themselves from repel- 
ling the attacks of their adversaries. The 
court of Rome, on which they leaned for 
support, did not itself possess the same au- 
thority as formerly, and the diiferences that 
occurred between the popes and the coun- 
cils of Basil and Pisa, familiarized men's 
minds with the idea that it was lawful, in 
certain cases, to resist the vicar of Christ. 
Various circumstances therefore existed 
which were threatening to change the mass 
of opinion, but their action was slow and 
imperceptible. In the latter half of the 
15th century, two great events, the taking 
of Constantinople by the Turks, and the 
discovery of America, suddenly accelerated 

H 



98 

the general motion. The taking of Con- 
stantinople, by rendering that city subject 
to a people hostile to the sciences, com- 
pelled the learned Greeks to quit their 
country, and many of them found an 
asylum in Italy, where they exerted a 
great influence over literature. Before this 
period, the metaphysics of Aristotle, Avell 
or ill understood and explained, reigned 
almost without a rival in all the schools; 
and this kind of universal monarchy ar- 
rested the progress of knowledge. The 
Greek refugees introduced the metaphysics 
of Plato into Italy, and by thus raising- 
altar against altar, they proved what had 
never yet been imagined, that it was pos- 
sible to have an opinion different from the 
received one. They also carried into the 
\yest the knowledge and love of the Greek 
and Latin authors; and the independence 
of spirit stamped upon the works of the 
latter, communicated itself to those who 
studied them, prompted them to reflection, 
and disposed them to follow a course of 
their own; whence it maybe affirmed, that 



99 

k\l the men who distinguished themselves 
at that time by new and enlarged views, 
were formed in the school of the ancients. 
The discovery of the New World like- 
wise served to rouze the nations of Europe 
from their long torpor, by opening a vast 
field to the researches of geographers, na- 
turalists, and philosophers. The execution 
of this enterprize, which had been regarded 
as impossible, gave a new spring to the 
human mind ; and the discoveries made in 
the physical world led to a suspicion that 
others equally great remained to be made 
in the moral world. But the consequences 
of both these events would have been 
much less important had it not been for 
the invention of printing, which diffused 
so generally the desire of examining to the 
bottom of every subject. As long as edu- 
cation was confined to oral ins true tion^ 
learned men were little known except to 
their own disciples; and those of a cele- 
brated teacher treasured up with servile 
veneration every word that he uttered as an 
oracle, and thus the greatness of his reputa- 
tion prevented the development of their 

H 2 



100 

ideas. But when the art of typography had 
multiphed thoughts, and in a manner ren- 
dered them portable, the productions of 
men of genius were diifused from one ex- 
tremity of Europe to the other. Every one 
was enabled to examine and judge of them 
at his leisure, unbiassed by the charms of 
elocution, or the presence of the author. 
Disputes certainly became more frequent 
and more vehement; but a multitude of 
fresh views resulted from the shock of so 
many different opinions. Thus did all 
things conspire to a renovation of ideas, 
and tend towards a new order of things. 
A vague inquietude, a murmured discon- 
tent, announced the approach of a tempest : 
a change Vv^as inevitable, and if neither 
Luther nor Zwingle had undertaken the 
reformation, others would, though perhaps 
with less talent and less energy. These 
great men were only the spokesmen of their 
contemporaries, to whose silent wishes they 
gave utterance; they were the first to say 
what thousands had thought. This general 
disposition of men's minds serves to ex- 
plain the reformation and the rapidity of 



101 

its progress : a solitary circumstance might 
hasten it, but is not to be considered as its 
real cause. At the time when Samson ap- 
peared at Zurich, the diet had been con- 
voked there to deliberate on an affair of im- 
portance. After the death of Maximilian 
I. his grandson Charles of Austria king of 
Spain, and Francis I. king of France, both 
aspired to the imperial crown. Each ad- 
dressed himself to the Helvetic Confede- 
racy, as making part of the German Em- 
pire, and requested its influence with the 
electors. In the discussions which took 
place on this business, several members of 
the diet were of opinion that they ought 
to take part with neither of the candidates; 
and this was Zwingle's idea. He was 
desirous that the Cantons should observe 
an exact neutrality, and refrain from tak- 
ing a step which, without influencing the 
decision of the electors, might offend the 
disappointed prince;" but his advice was 
not listened to; and whether the address 
of the cardinal of Sion, the emperor's am- 
bassador, was superior to that of the French 

« Bull. 1. c. 



10^ 

envoys, or whether the remembrance of 
the defeat at Marignano had rendered the 
Swiss less favourable to Francis I., it was 
resolved to write to the electors that the 
Cantons had no predilection for the king of 
France, and that as faithful members of 
the Empire, they were desirous of seeing a 
prince of German origin on the Imperial 
throne. The king of Spain was not named 
in this letter, but he was designated in a 
manner not to be mistaken. The reasons 
that induced the electors to give the pre- 
ference to Charles V. are well known/ as 
also the long animosity springing from the 
favour which they thus showed him above 
his rival. It does not appear however that 
Francis was offended with the Swiss for 
taking this step in behalf of the king of 
Spain. 

As soon as war broke out between these 
two princes, they both sent ambassadors to 
the Helvetic league. Charles required of 
them not to take part with the French; 
he offered to take 6000 Swiss into his pay, 
and to grant a subsidy to each Canton. 

"" V. Robertson's Hist, of Charles V. 



103 

Francis, on his side, endeavoured to alarm 
the Swiss respecting the views of Charles 
v., and he set forth the services that France 
had rendered and could still render them, 
by protecting them against the ambition of 
the house of Austria. To these reasons of 
state the ambassadors of the king added 
means of seduction, the effect of which ap- 
peared in the speedy conclusion of an alli- 
ance offensive and defensive with France, 
which was to subsist during the life of 
Francis I. and for three years afterwards. 
The contracting parties reciprocally guar- 
ranteed the possessions of each other 
against all assailants, excepting only the 
powers with whom treaties were already 
existing on either side, unless these powers 
should be the aggressors, in which case the 
(exception was to be null. 

The Cantons engaged to furnish the 
king with 6000 troops to serve in his pay; 
and they authorized him, when he should 
be at war, to enlist all the volunteers who 
should offer, to name their officers, and to 
march them whithersoever he pleased. The 
Cantons even gave up the right of recall- 



104 

ing their troops, except in case of their 
being themselves attacked by an enemy. 
The king on his part promised to fur- 
nish a train of artillery, or subsidies. 
He also increased those that he paid to 
each Canton/ These conditions were all 
to the advantage of Francis, yet the con- 
federacy agreed to them without hesitation. 
Zurich alone made objections against se- 
veral articles of the treaty. This Canton re- 
minded its allies of the loss suffered a few 
years before at Marignano, of the letter 
written to the electors on the choice of an 
emperor, and of the attachment that they 
had then testified to Charles V., as also of 
their recent refusal to ally themselves with 
this prince, of which he would have a right 
to complain if they immediately after- 
wards entered into a league with another 
sovereign. The Canton ended by propos- 
ing that a neutrality should be observed 
between the belligerent pOAvers. These re- 
presentations were fruitless; so far from 
listening to them, the other Cantons sent 

y This alliance was concluded at Lucem in May 1521, 
Bull. Schw. Chr. T. iii. B. 



105 

an embassy to Zurich exhorting her not to 
separate her interests from those of her 
aUies. They even secretly engaged the de- 
pendencies of that city to present petitions 
to her to the same purport.^ In order to 
obviate the effect of these practices, the 
council of Zurich gave notice to all the 
municipalities in its territory of the treaty 
concluded by the Cantons with France; 
publishing at the same time a proclamation 
containing their reasons for not acceding 
to it. This proclamation thus concludes: 
" We have laid these matters before you, 
not because we are not agreed among our- 
selves, not because we are doubtful as to 
the best measures to be taken ; but because 
we wish to know whether we can depend 
on your fidelity, whatever may happen. 
We therefore require you to assemble in 
your municipalities, and afterwards to in- 
form us of your intentions. We desire that 
the old men and fathers of families will ma- 
turely weigh their answer; that the young 
men will listen to them with submission, and 
that no one will consult his own private 

^ Bull. Schw. Chr, T. iii. C. 



106 

interest in this matter; for it is one of 
great moment, and concerns not us alone, 
but our children, and all our posterity. As 
soon as we shall be informed of your opi- 
nions, we shall deliberate anew, and return 
such an answer to the king of France as is 
conformable to the honour of our city, 
your prosperity, and the repose of the 
Helvetic body."' 

The spirit of the instructions to the 
deputies sent to the municipalities, and of 
the proclamation of the council, is so much 
in unison with the political principles 
openly professed by Zwingle, that we are 
tempted to attribute their composition to 
him. Whether this conjecture be just or 
iiot, it is evident that the preponderance 
suddenly obtained by the wisest and most 
disinterested part of the council, was owing 
to the eloquence of the reformer. 

Almost all the municipalities of the 
Canton assured the council of their sub- 
mission and fidelity, conjured her to persist 
in her refusal, and exhorted her to de- 
nounce severe penalties against such as 

^ Bull. I.e. 



107 

should suffer themselves to be corrupted. 
As soon as the sentiments of the munici- 
palities were known, the council acquainted 
the French ambassadors that they should 
adhere to the treaty of Friburgh,^ and 
would enter into no new alliance; they en- 
treated the Cantons not to be offended 
with them for a resolution which they 
deemed salutary, and assured them that 
the Canton would nevertheless fulfil its 
engagement as a member of the Confe- 
deracy. At the same time the council ex- 
acted an oath from all the citizens that 
they would accept no pension from any 
foreign prince.*" The promises of the 
French ambassador, and the remonstrances 
of the Cantons, having proved equally 
fruitless, the latter became vejy indignant, 
and accused the people of Zurich of in- 
clining to the imperial party. Their 
hatred fell chiefly on Zwingle, whom they 
reproached with having disturbed the har- 

^ The treaty of Friburgh between France and Swit- 
zerlandj called the perpetual Peace, was concluded 
1n 1510. 

^ Bull. Schw. Chr. T. iii, D. Stetler's Chronik, 599, 



108 

mony of the Helvetic body, by preventing 
the Canton of Zurich from joining with 
them; and their animosity was increased 
by the sufferings that they underwent in 
the campaigns undertaken for Francis I. 

At this period Zwingie lost several of 
his partisans, even at Zurich, who found an 
ardent zeal for their ancient faith reviving 
in their minds as soon as they had been de- 
prived, at the instigation of the reformer, 
of the means of enriching themselves at 
the expense of their country. 

A short time after the conclusion of 
the treaty of Lucern with France, Leo X. 
in virtue of an alliance made with the 
Swiss in 1515, claimed some troops from 
them to defend the territories of the 
church/ But far from having any thing 
to fear from his neighbours, Leo was him- 
self forming plans against them. He had 
at first negociated with Francis I. that they 
might in concert expel the Spaniards from 
Naples; but soon after entered into a 
league with Charles V. for the purpose of 
wresting the Milanese from France, and 

^ Hottingeri Methodiis legend! Hist. Helv. p. 502. 



109 

restoring Parma and Placentia to the Holy- 
See.^ This latter convention remained se- 
cret, and the cardinal of Sion, who was 
charged with the pope's demand to the 
Swiss, only pleaded the defence of the 
Pontifical State. He represented to the 
Cantons in several diets assembled succes- 
sively at Zurich and at Lucern, that their 
engagements with the pope were prior to 
these that they had contracted with France, 
and ought therefore to be preferred. The 
ambassadors of France, on the other hand, 
insisted on the execution of the treaty 
lately concluded. In vain did they pres& 
Zurich to enter into the alliance of Lucern, 
or at least to permit her subjects to enlist 
under the French standard; they were 
unable to prevail. With the other Cantons 
they succeeded better; these, vv^ithout en- 
tering into any discussion with the legate, 
gave him an answer in the negative, 
and granted to the king of France the pro- 
mised succour of 6000 men.^ At Zurich 
opinions were divided; the partizans of 

« Roberts. Hist. Charles V. vol. iii. B, 2. 
f Ball Schw. Cbr. T. iii. E, 



110 

Zvvingle wished the alliance with the pope 
to be renounced; but the mihtaiy men, 
who were displeased at the attempt to put 
a stop to their career, demanded the fulfil- 
ment of the engagement with the sove- 
reign Pontiff. After much discussion, the 
council at length determined to send the 
pope 3000 men, who should only serve in 
defence of the territories of the church. 
Scarcely were these troops arrived in the 
country of the Grisons, when the other 
Cantons acquainted Zurich that it was the 
cardinal's intention to attack the Milanese. 
This information caused the council to re- 
peat to the soldiers their solemn orders to 
march neither against Milan, nor against 
the king of France, but to repair directly 
to the Roman territories. The troops of 
Zurich therefore continued their march; 
they forced the passage of the Adda, and 
effected a junction with the united armies 
of the pope and the emperor, commanded 
by cardinal Giuliano dei Medici, Prospero 
Colonna, and the marquis of Pescara. 
Offers, promises and gifts, were all em- 
ployed to induce the officers and soldiers 



I 



1 1 1 

to advance upon the Milanese. Some 
-yielded to the temptation, but the leader of 
the Zurichers replied: "Were your tents 
and all that they contain, of pure gold, we 
would refuse, if in order to gain them it 
were necessary to disobey our magistrates, 
and violate our oaths." Not being able to 
overcome this noble resistance, the pope's 
generals directed the contingent of Zurich 
against Reggio, and it afterwards assisted 
in the recapture of Parma and Placentia. 

During this time, the united armaes 
were gaining great advantages over mar- 
shal Lautrec, who commanded the French 
and Swiss: obliging him to retreat, and 
possessing themselves of the whole Mila- 
nese. The soldiers of the twelve Cantons 
returned to their homes irritated by the 
reverses they had suifered, of which they 
accused Zurich as the cause. These re- 
proaches occasioned so violent a fermen- 
tation, that this Canton thinking herself 
threatened with an attack from her allies, 
suddenly recalled her troops ; ^ who quitted 

's Bull. Schw, Chr. T, iii. E, 



112 

Placentia a few weeks after the death of 
Leo X. which took place in Decem- 
ber 1521. 

We may date from this campaign the ani- 
mosity of the other Cantons against Zurich; 
of which Zwingle was the principal object, 
as being the head of the partisans of neu- 
trality. His advice not to assist the Pope 
was forgotten; nothing was remembered 
but his constant opposition to the new 
alliance with France; and his political 
principles and religious opinions were 
confounded under the same note of repro- 
bation. 

In the beginning of the year 1522, 
marshal Lautrec again assembled an army 
for the recovery of the Milanese, and ob- 
tained fresh succours from the twelve Can- 
tons. The emperor, and the cardinals who 
during the vacancy of the Holy See found 
themselves at the head of affairs, on the 
other hand, pressed the Canton of Zurich 
to furnish them with troops; but that 
Canton being set free from all her engage- 
ments by the death of Leo X. refused to 



113 

take part in the war, and persisted in the 
resolution of avoiding every thing which 
might irritate her allies.'' 

The war became protracted; and the 
Swiss, discontented for want of pay, and 
impatient of the inactivity in which they 
were detained by marshal Lautrec, com- 
pelled him to attack the Imperialists who 
were intrenched near Bicocca, four miles 
from Pavia. Their accustomed courage 
now only served to increase their loss; 
with their utmost efforts they were unable 
to force the enemy's intrenchments.^ The 
consequences of this battle obhged Lautrec 
entirely to evacuate the Milanese, and 
abandon whatever Francis possessed in 
Italy."" The Swiss returned home still 
more humiliated, and having suffered more 
than in the former campaign. These fresh 
reverses produced the same effect upop 
another Canton as former ones had done 
upon that of Zurich. In the general as- 
sembly" of Schweitz, it was proposed to 

^ Bull. 1. c. » Bull. 1. c. 

'" Hist, of Charles V. vol. iii. book iu 
. " Landsgemeinde. 



114 

give up all alliances, and Zwingle seized' 
the opportunity of addressing an exhorta- 
tion to the inhabitants, advising them to 
adopt this measure. He attributes the di- 
visions which had for some time disturbed 
the Cantons to the decay of piety; and 
then adds : " Far from ascribing your vic- 
tories to the Lord of hosts, as was the cus-^ 
tom with your ancestors, you take pride in- 
your successes, and believe yourselves in 
vincible. In the wars in which your va- 
nity engages you, your soldiers are guilty 
of excesses which will one day draw down 
upon you the divine anger. 

^' Suppose yourselves a prey to the same 
calamities that you have more than once 
inflicted upon neighbouring nations. What 
would you say if a band of mercenaries,, 
unprovoked by any offence, should make 
themselves masters of the frontiers of your 
country, lay waste your fields, destroy 
your harvests, and burn your dwellings? 
When you beheld them drive away your 
herds, plunder your houses, massacre your 
sons who had armed for your defence, out- 
rage your daughters, spurn your wives who 



115 

were kneeling at their feet, and slaughter 
your fathers vrithout pity of their grey 
hairs, you would certainly expect that God 
by a sudden stroke would exterminate these 
barbarians ; and if you saw them remain 
unpunished, you would perhaps blaspheme 
against the tardy justice of the Master of 
the universe. And yet, are not yourselves 
often guilty of all this, under pretence of 
certain rights of war? It is God, say you 
in your justification, it is God who sends the 
calamities of war on the nations who have de- 
served his anger. Yes, wars are indeed ne- 
cessary to punish the vices of the world; 
but woe to those men by whom they come 1 
God makes use of the wicked to chastise 
the wicked. Do not reply that rebels must 
be reduced to obedience : I know that arms 
must be employed agail^st those who brave 
the laws; but what has the service of a 
mercenary who is paid to attack the inno- 
cent, to lay w^aste their fields, destroy their 
cities, and threaten their lives, in common 
with- the incontestible rights of legal 
power? 

" In order to justify those allianqes which. 



116 

you have successively contracted with se- 
veral princes, it is affirmed that owing to the 
barrenness of our soil, the subsidies of our 
neighbours are necessary to us. It is true 
that the resources of our country are insuf- 
ficient for the luxury which has found its 
Y/ay into the heart of our mountains; but 
if we had chosen to adhere to the sim^ 
piicity of our forefathers, and contented 
ourselves with the lot that God had as^ 
signed us, we should have stood in no need 
either of subsidies, or of these vain ex- 
cuses. Need I speak of the fatal effects 
which our wars daily produce among us? 
Of the perpetual violations of justice, the 
contempt of the laws, and insubordination 
carried to such a heirfrt that scarcelv a 
single citizen can be found who respects 
his magistrates? ^eed I speak of the cor- 
ruption of manners that our warriors bring 
back with them to their own firesides; of 
the jealousy and envy inseparable compa- 
nions of the favours with which our neigh- 
hours pay for the blood of our children; 
and of the disorders resulting from these 
bad passions, which expose the indepen- 



117 

dence of our common country to tile ut- 
most danger. 

" O ! if you still have any care of your 
ancient glory; if you yet remember your 
forefathers and the dangers that they braved 
for the defence of their liberty ; if the wel- 
fare of your country is dear to you, reject 
the fatal gifts of aspiring princes, reject them 
before it is too late ; suffer yourselves nei- 
ther to be deceived by the promises of 
some, nor intimidated by the menaces of 
others. Imitate your allies of Zurich, who 
by severe and wholesome laws have re- 
strained the excesses which ambition would 
have prompted. Should you unite with 
them, all Switzerlaiid would soon follow 
your example, and return to the wise and 
moderate conduct of its ancestors."" 

" Zuinglil Op. T. i. f. 154. seq. Zwingle's exhorta- 
tion is dated May 14, 1522. By blaming, without ex- 
ception, the custom of the Swiss, of entering into foreign 
services, Zwingle showed that he viewed the question ra-r 
ther as a moralist than a statesman. The reformer, alarm- 
ed at the sight of the evils caused by the great number, 
the licentiousness, and extreme disorder of the military 
engagements of that day, thought that they ought to be 
renounced entirely, in order to save the country. His 



IIS 

- The cotirageous frankness of Zwingle did 
not displease the inhabitants of Schweitz; 
they commissioned their secretary of state 
to return him an answer fall of expressions 
of regard ; ^ and a short time after, their ge- 
neral assembly passed a law to abolish all 
alliances and all subsidies, during a term of 
twenty-five years. During these political 
events, Zwingle continued the preaching 
of his doctrine ; and without giving way to 
an inconsiderate zeal, he was gradually 
preparing men's minds for the reforms 
v/hich he was desirous of efFecting. In 
one of his earliest works, he thus speaks 
of the method that he followed. " On 
my arrival at Zurich, I began to explain 
the gospel according to St, Matthew. I 

anxiety for the future did not allow him to see that it was 
possible to remedy the abuse^ without abolishing the use j 
it prevented him from considering, that a nation become 
independent by the courage of its ancestors, had need to 
preserve its military reputation ; and that being detirous 
to keep peace with its neighbours, it could only maintain 
the warlike virtues, by favouring, through wise stipula- 
tions, the natural inclination of its youth to devote a cer- 
tain nurnber of years to the profession of armies. 
P Hott. H.E. T. vi. p. 359. 



119 

added an exposition of the Acts of the 
apostles, to show my audience in what 
manner the gospel had been diffused. I 
then went on to the first epistle of Paul to 
Timothy, which may be said to contain the 
rule of life of a true christian. Perceiving 
that false teachers had introduced some 
errors w^ith respect to the doctrine of faith, 
I interpreted the epistle to the Galatians; 
this I followed by an explanation of the 
two epistles of St. Peter, to prove to the 
detractors of St. Paul, that the same spirit 
had animated both these apostles. I came 
at length to the epistle to the Hebrews, which 
makes known in its full extent the benefits of 
the mission of Jesus Christ." ^' In my ser- 
mons," adds he, '' I have employed neither 
indirect modes of speech, nor artful insi- 
nuations, nor captious exhortations; it is 
hy the most simple language that I have 
endeavoured to open the eyes of every one 
to his own disease, according to the exam- 
ple of Jesus Christ himself."'^ 

The new ideas suggested by Zwingle to 
his auditors, acted upon their minds so as to 

9 Zuing. Op. T. i. f. 132. 



ICO 

diminish insensibly their respect for certain 
rules of ecclesiastical discipline. In 1522, 
some persons allowed themselves to break 
the fast of lent without having procured 
a dispensation. The criminals were de- 
nounced to the magistrate, who sent them 
to prison, and refused to hear their justifi- 
cation. Zwingle undertook to defend the 
principle on which they had acted, and 
Avith this intention published a tract On the 
Observation of Lent, in which he quotes se- 
veral passages from the New Testament to 
prove that the kind of meat is a thing in- 
different in itself, and that all days are 
equally holy to a christian. Without abso- 
lutely proscribing fasts, he would have 
every one left at liberty in that matter. 
He ridicules the ooinion that there is a 
merit in abstaining from customary ali- 
ments, and substituting others in their 
place. '^ Real abstinence," says he, " may 
have some advantage to the citizen living 
in the midst of pleasure and luxury, but it 
is useless to the artisan and the labourer, 
who find in the fatigues and hardships of 
their station, sufiicient means of mortifying 



121 

the flesh. The fathers of the church, 
whose authority is quoted, knew nothing 
of our laws respecting lent, and many 
christian nations have not adopted them. 
They were invented at RomiC to create a 
new branch of revenue for the Holy See." 
Zwingle concludes by desiring the learned 
in the Scriptures, to refute him, if theif 
judged that he had done "violence to the senst^ 
of the Gospel: 

This work, the first that Zwingle pub- 
lished, irritated his adversaries still m.ore 
against him. They represented to the 
bishop of Constance the necessity of op- 
posing a doctrine which, little by little, 
would undermine both episcopal and pon- 
tificial authority. They said that the rapid 
progress of the opinions of Luther in Ger- 
many, gave room to fear, that the flame 
might spread to Switzerland if a speedy 
remedy were not applied. This fear de- 
termined Hugh of Landenberg, the bishop, 
to address a charge to the clergy and laity 
of his diocese, in which he deplored in ge- 
neral terms the dissentions excited by 

^ Zuing. Op. T. i. f. 324. et scq. 



122 

fdme turbulent spirits, and exhorted his 
floek not to separate themselves from the 
church. He wrote at the same time to the 
council of Zurich, to engage them not to 
permit the ancient ordinances of the church 
to be infringed or pubHcly blamed. With- 
out naming Zvvingle, he pointed him out 
in a manner not to be mistaken; but his 
insinuations failed of their effect. The 
council only replied by begging the bishop 
to assemble the prelates and theologians of 
his diocese, and to examine with them into 
the real cause of the dissentions complained 
of. No other method, according to the 
council, would succeed in " putting a stop 
to the diversity of preaching, which threw 
the faithful into a painful and dangerous 
uncertainty.'" This answer did not satisfy 
the bishop: he dreaded all examination, 
and did not think himself a judge compcr 
tent to decide the controversy: his only 
view had been to impose silence on Zwingle. 
Having failed of his object with the coun- 
cil, he made another attempt with the 
chapter, on which Zwingle more particularly 

« Bull Schw. Chr. T. iii. F. 



IQ3 

4epencledj by complaining to it of certain 
innovators, who in the madness of their 
pride were pretending to reform the church. 
'' Beware," said he " of receiving as a re- 
medy what is a detestable poison; beware 
of embracing perdition instead of salvation. 
Keject those dangerous opinions which are 
condemned by the heads of Christendom;^ 
do not allow them to be preached among 
you, nor discussed, publicly or privately; 
preserve yourselves in the doctrine and 
usages of the church, till those to whom it 
belongs shall regulate in these matters."" 

Zwingle, Avho could not but perceive that 
this letter was directed against him, begged 
permission of the chapter to reply to it, and 
composed a tract in which he laid it down as 
a principle, that the Gospel alone is autho- 
rity from which there is no appeal, and to 
which recourse should be had to terminate 
all doubts, and settle all disputes; and that 
the decisions of the church can only be 

* At this period the opinions of Luther had been 
condemned as heretical, by the emperor and the pope. 
" Bull. 1. c. 



124 

binding inasmuch as they are founded pn 
scripture.'"' 

This principle ought never to have been 
forgotten, and yet it had been. The sub- 
hme simphcity of a doctrine which guides 
the mind by the feehngs that it inspires, 
was not long sufficient for the disciples of 
Christ; they became desirous to explain 
all, and define all. Then arose that crowd 
of often very whimsical opinions, which 
from the earliest ages of Christianity have 
excited such violent disputes. In order to 
conciliate men's minds and restore peace, it 
was usual for the heads of the different 
churches to meet in provincial and general 
councils; but instead of striking at the root 
of the evil, by declaring all metaphysical 
3ubtilties foreign to religion, the^e coun- 
cils most commonly endeavoured to over- 
throw a heresy by some unintelligible defi- 
nition, which became in its turn the parent 
of new heresies. It was usual to place the 
New Testament on a table in the midst of 
assemblies of the clergy, to indicate that 

^ Zuinglii Op. T. i. f. 128. 



125 

the sacred code of christians ought to ^erve 
as the rule of their judgments; but this 
custom degenerated into a vain ceremony, 
and the judges consulted their personal 
interests or passions, and not the gospel. 
When the bishops of Rome began to raise 
themselves above their brethren, and to 
laj the foundations of their temporal 
power, they felt that the gospel did not 
favour their pretensions, but that they 
might derive great advantages from the 
decisions pronounced by their predecessors. 
Consequently they collected these deci- 
sions into a body of doctrine, and they 
assigned to them dates much earlier than 
the true ones, in order to give them the 
varnish of antiquity. Hence proceeded a 
peculiar kind of legislation, known under 
the name of Canon Law^ to which recourse 
was had to decide in the last resort upon 
all matters of religion. The scriptures, 
either unknown or ill interpreted, had lost 
their credit to such a degree, that the cry 
of innovation was raised when the reform- 
ers attempted to restore them to their 
importance. Perhaps these reformers might 



have obtained important con.cessibnSj If 
they would have granted to the church, or 
rather to the sovereign Pontiif, the right 
of interpreting the divine oracles at his 
pleasure; but they did not judge it allow- 
able to temporize on a point of so much 
consequence; and the supreme authority^ 
in every thing relating to the faith, ap- 
peared to them to belong solely to the 
writings of our Saviour's first disciples. 
Zwingle thus expresses himself on this 
subject in the tract of which we have been 
speaking, '* When, for your own justifica- 
tion, you elevate human traditions above 
the gospel, you appeal to a holy man who 
says : ' if the church had not approved the 
gospel, 1 should not believe in it : ' but if 
you v/ould be sincere, you would confess 
that there is some rashness, or at least im- 
prudence, in these words of St. Augustine. 
" The word of God has no need of the 
sanction of men : the fathers of the church 
themselves did nothing more than reject 
the apocryphal gospels; that is, those of 
'feigned or unknown authors; neither do 
'We, desire any thing else than to purge cliris- 



1^7 

tianity of what is foreign to it; to delivef 
it from the captivity in which it is de- 
tained by its enemies, and to dig again 
those cisterns of hving water that they have 
filled up/ 

" You defend human traditions by as- 
serting that the writings of the first dis- 
ciples of Christ do not contain all that is 
necessary to salvation, and in support of 
your opinion, you quote this text; ' I have 
yet many things to say unto you, but ye 
cannot bear them now,' (John xvi. v. 12;) 
but recollect, that Jesus here speaks to his 
apostles, and not to Aquinus, Scotus, Bar- 
tholus, or Baldus, whom you elevate to the 
rank of supreme legislators. When Jesus 
adds immediately after, ' Howbeit, when 
he the spirit of truth is come, he will guide 
you into all truth ; ' it is still the apostles 
whom he is addressing, and not men v/ho 
should rather be called disciples of Aristotle- 
than of Christ. If these famous doctors 
have added to scripture doctrine what was 
deficient, it must be confessed that our 
ancestors possessed it imperfect, that the 

y Zuing. Op. T, i. f. 230, 



123 

apoStks transmitted it to us imJDerfect; and 
that Jesus Christ, the son of God, taught 
it imperfect What blasphemy! Yet do 
not they who make human traditions equal 
or superior to the law of God, or pretend 
that they are necessary to salvation, really 
say this? If men cannot be saved with- 
out certain decrees of councils, neither 
the apostles, nor the early christians who 
were ignorant of these decrees, can be 
saved. Observe whither you are tending!'' 
You defend all your ceremonies as if they 
were essential to religion; yet it exercised 
a much more extensive empire over the 
heart, when the reading of pious books* 
prayer, and mutual exhortation, formed 
the only worship of the faithful. You ac- 
cuse me of overturning the state, because 
I openly censure the vices of the clergy : 
no one respects more than I do the minis- 
ters of religion, when they teach it in all 
its purity, and practise it vvdth simplicity; 
but I cannot contain my indignation when 
I observe shepherds who, by their conduct, 
appear to say to their flocks : ' We are the 

^ Zuing. Op. T. i. f. 137. 



1^9 

^lect, you the profane; we are the enhght- 
ened, you the ignorant; it is permitted to 
us to live in idleness, you ought to eat your 
bread in the sweat of your brow; you must 
abstain from all sin, while we may give our- 
selves up with impunity to every kind of 
excess; you must defend the state at the 
risk of your lives, but religion forbids us 
to expose ours.' — I will now tell you what 
is the Christianity that I profess, and which 
you endeavour to render suspected. It 
commands men to obey the laws, and re- 
spect the magistrate; to pay tribute and 
impositions where they are due; to rival 
one another only in beneficence; to sup- 
port and relieve the indigent; to share the 
griefs of their neighbour, and to regard all 
mankind as brethren. It further requires 
the christian to expect salvation from God 
alone, and Jesus Christ his only Son, our 
master and Saviour, who giveth eternal life 
to them who believe on him. Such are the 
principles from v/hich, in the exercise of my 
ministry, I have never departed."^ 

While Zwingle was com.posing this 

* This tract was published, August 22^ 1522. 
K 



130 

tiact, the bishop of Constance required the 
Helvetic diet, assembled at Baden, to assist 
him in preserving his diocesans in obedi- 
ence. The deputies acceded to his wishj 
and ordered the arrest of the pastor of a 
small village near Baden, accused of preach- 
ing the necv doctrine^ whom after examining 
they sent to Constance as convicted of 
heresy.^ This was the first example in 
Switzerland of violent measures exercised 
against the partisans of the reformation: 
the impulse being once given, the clergy 
were careful not to let it subside. 

From this moment Zwingle foresaw the 
obstacles that the heads of the Cantons 
were hkely to oppose to the reformation. 
In small states the governed are continually 
in presence of their governors, whose ob- 
servation nothing can escape. It was ne- 
cessary to success, to conciliate the favour 
of the Swiss governments; the reformer 
therefore addressed to them a summary of 
his doctrine, in his own name and that 
of his friends; to which he added an en- 
treaty that they would leave free the preach- 

^ Hott. Helv. Kirch. T. iii. p. 103. 



131 

ing of the gospel.^ " Fear nothing," says he, 
" from granting us this liberty; there are 
certain signs by which every one may 
know the trtily evangehcal preachers. He 
who, neglecting his private interest, spares 
neither pains nor labour to cause the will 
of God to be known and revered, to bring 
back sinners to repentance, and give con- 
solation to the altlicted— is undoubtedly 
in unison with Christ But when you see 
teachers daily offering new saints to the 
veneration of the people, whose favour 
must be gained by offerings ; and when the 
sam.e teachers continually hold forth the 
extent of sacerdotal power, and the autho- 
rity of the pope, you may believe that they 
think much more of their own profit, 
than of the care of the souls entrusted to 
them. 

" If such men counsel you to put a stop 
to the preaching of the gospel by public 
decrees, shut your ears against their insi- 

^ In the language of the reformed of this time, to 
■preach the gospel, signified to preach it in the sense of 
Zwlngle and Luther, who had restored Christianity to its 
primitive purity. 

K 2 



IBS 

iluatiotis, and be certain that it is their aim 
to prevent any attacks from being made 
upon their benefices and honours : say that 
if this work cometh of men, it will perish 
of itself, but that if it cometh of God, in 
vain would all the powers of the earth 
league together against it."** Zwingie then 
adverts to the immorality that prevailed 
among the clergy, and attributes it chiefly 
to their celibacy. At the period of the re- 
formation, marriage was forbidden to priests 
in all the countries that recognized the 
supremacy of the Roman See; but this pro- 
hibition was only regarded as a regulation 
of discipline, which the church might esta- 
blish or revoke at its pleasure. In the 
second century of the christian era, celibacy 
was already regarded as the highest degree 
of perfection, and as an abstinence merito- 
rious in the eyes of the Deity. This idea 
took its rise in Egypt, in the ardent imagi- 
nations of the anchorites of that country,«= 
and the institution of monasteries served 
to give it credit. It was however still 

^ Zuing. Op. T. i. f. 112. 
« Moshiem's Eccl. Hist. p. 2, Ch. iii. § 14. 



133 

permitted to th€ clergy to marry; but those 
who remained in cehbacy enjoyed greater 
respect among the people, who believed 
them to be less subjected to the powers of 
hell! 

At the council of Nice in 3^'l5^ it was 
made a question whether priests should be 
ordered to observe perpetual cehbacy ; but 
several prelates opposed such a law. In suc- 
ceeding ages the same question was often 
agitated, and every one decided it in the man- 
ner con formi able to his own sentiments and 
character, the church having pronounced 
nothing positive in the matter. The repu- 
tation of sanctity obtained by the monks 
whose vow obliged them to celibacy, in a 
manner forced the secular priests to follow 
their example : many persons too embraced 
the ecclesiastical state at an advanced age; 
and many others imposed upon themselves 
a voluntary abstinence in expiation of their 
past life. Towards the ] 1th century, these 
united causes considerably diminished the 
number of married priests; but those who 
remained single, compensated the self-de- 

*" Mosheim's Eccl. Hist. p. 2. Gh. u, § 6. 



134 

nial by forming connections which were 
not the less pubhc for being ilHcit. Under 
Gregory Yil. this abuse had reached its 
height; and that Pontiff, in remedying it, 
made the reformation of manners subser- 
vient to the aggrandisement of the Holy 
See. A council assembled by him, ordered 
the married ecclesiastics to separate them- 
selves from their wives, and such as had 
concubines to dismiss them." The Pope, 
inexorable to prayers, complaints, and cen- 
sure, declared such as should refuse to sub- 
mit to the decree of the council, unworthy 
of the priesthood, and forbade the laity to 
hear mass from a married priest. The cha- 
racter and conduct of Gregory VII. allow 
us to suppose that he foresaw the advan- 
tages which miight be derived to the Holy 
See from the ceUbacy of the clergy. All 
the measures of this Pope, whose great 
talents cannot be disputed, tended to render 
the church independent of the secular 
power, and he hoped to succeed in this 
object, by breaking the ties which attached 
the clergy to their country, rendering the 

s Mosh. Eccl. Hist. p. 2. Ch. ii. § 12. et seq. 



135 

priests strangers to the domestic affections, 
and placing them, in a manner, out of the 
society in whicli they Hved, 

The decree respecting cehbacy was 
executed in the different states of Europe 
^yith a rigour proportioned to the influence 
exercised in them by Gregory VI !. but 
the popes and councils would never have 
succeeded in abolishing the ancient cus- 
toms, had they not deprived the children 
of priests of the right of inheritance, and 
declared them incapable of holding ecclesi- 
astical benefices. The severity of these 
laws caused marriage gradually to fall into 
disuse among the clergy, and iriultiplied 
temporary connections, which were tole- 
rated by the bishops in consideration of a . 
fine, and authorised by the magistrates as a 
security against still worse disorders.^ Se- 
veral councils made regulations to repress 
the abuses resulting from this culpable in- 
dulgence, but they possessed only a legis- 
lative power; the execution of their decrees 
belonged to the popes, and these were not 
likely to draw upon themselves the hatred 

^' Hott. UqIv. Kirch. T. ii. p. 852. et seq^. 



136' 

of the clergy, by executing the will of a 
tribunal of which they A\^ere jealous. After 
Gregory VII. no Pontiff had the noble am- 
bition to employ his power for the reforma- 
tion of manners; and the men who dis- 
graced the apostolical chair towards the 
end of the l6th and beginning of the 17th 
centuries, were far from punishing vices of 
which themselves gave the example. Laws 
that are not executed do but increase the- 
evil; and thus it became intolerable. They 
who drew their morals from the sacred 
book, equally blamed the celibacy of the 
clergy, whether they considered the fatal 
consequences of this regulation to morals, 
or whether they examined by what right a 
numerous class of citizens were deprived of 
the blessings of the conjugal and parental 
relations; and the opinion that a priest 
sinned less by living in licentiousness than 
in marriage,' appeared to them contrary 
both to morality and religion. Zwingle, 
being convinced of the mischief of a com- 
pelled celibacy, petitioned the chapter to 
authorise, or at least to tolerate, the mar- 

' ' Hott. 1. c. 



137 

riage of priests. He alleged in his favour 
numerous passages of scripture, the con- 
stant practice of the early ages, the ex- 
ample of many saints justly revered, and 
the decisions of several councils. 

" Our vow of chastity," says he, "is 
objected against us. Judge yourselves 
whether this vow, in the form in which we 
have pronounced it, is contrary to our de- 
mand. At the ceremony of ordination, 
the bishop addresses various questions to 
those who speak for the young priest who 
is about to be consecrated ; that referring to 
this matter, is as follows. ' Are they chaste 
whom you offer to the Lord?' The answer 
is: ' As much so as human frailty allows.' 
Our vow therefore is reduced to this. Do 
not regard those ^\^ho wish to disquiet you 
respecting the political consequences of 
this innovation. We ask no privilege con- 
trary to your laws; we do not design to 
make the property of the church an inheri- 
tance for our children, and we will sub- 
mit, like faithful subjects, to such measures 
as our magistrates shall judge proper to 



' 138 

take.^ We do not fear a public discussion 
of our opinion, either by speaking or writ- 
ing; and we can prove that we have in our 
favour the authority of the divine writings ; 
but if all our reasons cannot move you, we 
at least beg of you to protect married 
priests against the tjnanny of the Roman 
pontiffs and the bishops, and not to suffer 
citizens to be unjustly oppressed, who con- 
sider you as their fathers."^ 

About the same lime. Zwino-le addressed 
a petition to the bishop of Constance, in 
which he conjured him to put himself' at 
the head of the partisans of reform, and to 
permit to he demolished with precaution and 
prudence^ what had been built up with 
temerity, 

Zwingle signed these two petitions in 

^ The fear lest married priests should consider the 
benefices of the church as a kind of property which they 
would have a right to transmit to their children, had 
been one of the chief reasons for estabhshing and preserv- 
ing the celibacy of the clergy. The event has shown \x\ 
ail protestant countries how ill this fear was founded, 
' Zuing. Op. T. i. f. 110, 



139 

concert with nine of his friends. Some 
courage was certainly necessary to hazard 
such a step, when the reform could as yet 
reckon in Switzerland only a small number 
of timid protectors, and had found such 
powerful enemies without. At this junc- 
ture the situation of affairs was such as 
left little hope to their cause. 

In the month of June 1520, LeoX. had 
declared forty-one of Luther's propositions 
heretical; condemned his writings to the 
flames, and summoned himself to retract, 
under pain of excommunicatioil.'" In the 
following year, l^SQ], Luther was cited 
before the diet of Worms, and declared an 
enemy of the empire, as " a schismatic, a 
notorious and obstinate heretic, and a 
gangreened member of the church;" and 
all those who should support him, in con- 
versation or by vvaiting, were threatened 
with severe penalties. At Worms, Charles 
V. showed so much zeal in defence of pon- 
tificial authority, that the elector Frederic 
of Saxony saw no other means of saving- 
Luther than by causing him to be secretly 

^ Zuinglii Op. T. i. f. 120. 



140 

conveyed away, and carried to one of his 
castles, where he remained concealed for 
several months." That the decree of the 
diet did not give occasion to violent mea- 
sures against the partisans of the Saxon re- 
former, must be attributed to the war which 
broke out between Charles V. and Francis 
L, which left Charles no leisure to attend 
to the ecclesiastical affairs of Germany; 
but the sword still remained suspended 
over the heads of the pretended heretics, 
and the avowed sentiments of Charles gave 
cause to believe that he would join with the 
pope to exterminate them, as soon as he 
should have no other enemies to fear. 
After the diet of Worms, the cause of 
Luther appeared to be judged without ap- 
peal; he and his followers were considered 
as sectaries, rebellious both to secular and 
ecclesiastical authority, and the name of 
Lutheran was become a kind of stigma. 
The enemies of Z wingle did not fail to be- 
stow on him this appellation, against which 
he continued to protest; not that he dis- 
avowed the conformity of his opinions with 

° Mosh. b. c. § 16. 



]41 

those of Luther, but because he had de- 
rived his from the scriptures long before he 
was acquainted with the writings, of the 
German reformer. His adversaries how- 
ever wished to render him odious ; and the 
best means of accomphshing it, was to assi- 
milate him to a man already excommuni- 
cated by the Holy Father. They seized 
the advantage afforded them by his bold 
step above mentioned. The churches re- 
sounded with the names of Lutheran and 
heretic, and the monks especially employed 
all their eloquence in decr^nng the new 
doctrine, both in their confessionals and 
from the pulpits. Fresh controversies 
arose every day between the two parties; 
some persons went so far as to interrupt 
the preachers in the churches; and per- 
sonal abuse envenomed the dispute. 

General edification was gradually im- 
paired; the essential doctrines of Chris- 
tianity, and especially its moral precepts, 
were neglected; and attention was almost 
exclusively occupied with objects unwor- 
thy of the importance attached to them. 
Zwingle himself and his partisans, though 



142 

persuaded of the inutility of these disputes, 
could not always avoid them. The multi- 
tude, incapable of judging of the founda- 
tion of the debate, were perpetually tossed 
about between diiferent opinions, and could 
rest in none; and at the same time they 
were scandalised to witness such animosi- 
ties among men who all called themselves 
ministers of the same religion, and disciples 
of the same master. 

It was to be feared that the people 
would insensibly lose all confidence in their 
spiritual guides, and that their respect for 
religion itself would sustain a fatal blow. 
This consideration did not escape Zwingle, 
and it filled him with the keenest anxiety, 
but what remedy could be found that was 
not more dangerous than the evil itself? 
Ought he to be silent from a love of 
peace? Ought he to give way to his adver- 
saries and leave them time to fix again 
what he had succeeded in shaking? By 
acting thus, he would have thought that 
he was betraying the truth, and failing in 
the sacred duties of his ministry. But 
ought he not, in obedience to the exhor- 



143 

tations of his bishop, to keep silence re- 
specting every thing that might become a 
subject of quarrel, and quietly await the 
convocation of a general council? This part 
appeared the best to those who were per- 
suaded that the Holy Spirit directs the re- 
solutions of a general assembly of the 
clergy, or who belie ved^. at least, that a 
meeting composed of the most illustrious 
and enlightened members of the church, 
would set truth in so clear a light as to con- 
found the incredulous. Zwingle adopted 
neither of these opinions; he v^^as too well 
versed in ecclesiastical history not to know 
that it was often the passions which dic- 
tated the decisions of councils; and that, 
still oftener, the science of theologians 
when united in a body, had embroiled what 
the simple good sense of each individual 
would have disentangled without difficulty. 
The recent conduct of the councils of Con- 
stance and Basil, likewise inspired him with 
a well-founded distrust. The first had 
laid it down as a principle, that faith was 
not necessary to be observed with heretics,* 

"" Bzov. A. C. 14, 15. § 4, 



144 

and had Goiidemned to the stake John 
Huss and Jerome of Prague, whose great 
crime had been declahning against the vices 
of the clergy. The second, being conti- 
nually divided and thwarted by the in- 
trigues of the court of Rome, had fulfilled 
none of its promises, and employed itself 
during seventeen years in minute and use- 
less regulations. The past gave an indica- 
tion of what was to be expected from the 
future. It was indeed to be presumed that 
a council convoked by the pope, and in 
which his legates were to preside, would 
not suifer the slightest discussion of the 
prerogatives of the Holy See ; that it would 
confine itself to pronouncing all new opi- 
nions heretical, without listening to their 
justification; and that it would never admit 
the principle, that the scripture is the only 
absolute authority in matters of faith. These 
were no doubt the considerations Avhich 
induced Zwingle to take other means to 
put an end to the violent disputes that 
were daily renewed in all the churches of 
Zurich, and to bring on the changes for 
which he had prepared the public mind. 



145 

In the beginning of the year 1523, 
Zwingle appeared before the great council, 
-and solicited a public colloquy, in which he 
mio'ht render an account of his doctrine in 
presence of the deputies of the bishop of 
Constance. He promised to retract if he 
-vv^ere proved to be in an error; but he de- 
sired the special protection of the govern- 
ment in case he should succeed in reducing 
his adversaries to silence. In conformity 
with this request of the reformer, the 
council a few days aftervv'ards addressed the 
folio win o' circular letter to the ecclesiastics 
of their Canton. '' Great discord prevails 
among the ministers employed to announce 
the word of God to the people : some affirm 
that they teach the gospel in all its purity, 
and accuse their adversaries of bad faith 
and ignorance, while the others, in their 
turn, talk continually of false doctor s^ sedu- 
cers, and heretics. In the meantim.e, the 
heads of the church, to which these matters 
belong, are either silent, or exhaust them- 
selves in fruitless exhortations. It is there- 
fore necessary that ourselves should take 

L 



146 

care of our subjects, and put an end to the 
disputes that divide them. For this pur- 
pose, we order all the members of our cle- 
rical body to appear at our town hall, the 
day after the festival of Charlemagne; and 
there we will that every one be free pub-* 
licly to point out the doctrines which he 
considers as heretical, and to combat them 
with the Gospel in his hand. Ourselves 
will be present at this assembly, and give 
all our attention to what is said on both 
sides; ^nd being thus enlightened by the 
knowledge of our principal theologians and 
preachers, with the assistance of God we 
will take measures which may put an end 
to this scandal. If afterwards, any one 
shall refuse to submit himself to the laws 
which a regard for public order may dic- 
tate to us, without supporting his refusal 
by the word of God, we shall find ourselves 
under the necessity of proceeding against 
him, from which we would gladly be ex- 
cused. In conclusion, we hope that the 
iVlmighty will deign to guide us in our 
judgments^ and assist us to discover the 



147 

truth." Given in the month of January 
15Q3.^ As soon as this decree was known, 
Zw ingle published seventy-six articles, the 
discussion of which was to form the subject 
of the colloquy. We shall content our- 
selves Avith citing those that were most 
adverse to the prevailing opinions. 

" It is an error to assert that the gospel 
is nothing without the approbation of the 
church; it is also an error to esteem other 
instructions equally with those contained 
in the gospel. — The traditions by which 
the clergy justify their pomp, their riches, 
honours and dignities, are the cause of the 
divisions of the church. — Th« gospel 
teaches us that the observances enjoined 
by men do not avail to salvation. — -The mass 
is not a sacrifice, but the commemoration 
of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. — Excom- 
munication ought only to take place for 
public scandals, and it ought to be pro- 
nounced by the church of which the sinner 

P Bull. Schw. Chr. T. iii. The council begged the 
bishop of Constance to assist at this colloquy, either in 
person or by his deputies. Zuinglii Op, T, i, f, 1 , et 
seq. 

l2 



148 

is a member. —The power arrogated to 
themselves by the pope and the bishops is 
not founded on scripture. — The jurisdic- 
tion possessed by the clergy belongs to the 
secular magistrates, to whom all christians 
ought to submit themselves. — God has not 
forbidden marriage to any class of chris- 
tians; therefore it is wrong to interdict it 
to priests, whose ceiibacry has become the 
cause of great licentiousness of manners. — 
Confession made to a priest ought to be 
considered as an examination of the con- 
science, and not as an act which can deserve 
absolution. — To give absolution for money, 
is to become guilty of simony. — Holy writ 
says nothing of purgatory; God alone 
knows the judgment that he reserves for 
the dead; since he has not been pleased to 
reveal it to us, we ought to refrain from 
ail indiscreet conjectures. — No person 
ought to be molested for his opinions; it is 
for the magistrate to stop the progress of 
those which tend to disturb the public 
tranquillity."'^ 

On the day fixed for the colloquy, the 

^ Zuing. Op, T. ii. f. 607. et seq. 



149 

ecclesiastics of the Canton repaired to the 
town hall, where were assembled the coun- 
cil of two hundred, and a great number of 
spectators of every condition. The bishop 
of Constance was represented in the meet- 
ing by the chevalier d'Anweil, intendant 
of his household, and by Faber his grand 
vicar, accompanied by several theologians. 
The burgomaster of Zurich opened the 
sitting, by reciting the motives Avhich had 
induced the council to convoke this as- 
sembly; he exhorted all those who believed 
themselves qualified to convict Zw ingle of 
heresy, to unfold their sentiments without 
fear. After him, the bishop's intendant, 
his grand vicar, and Zwingle, spoke in suc- 
cession. The latter was urgent to have his 
opinions subjected to a severe examination; 
tut the grand vicar avoided complying 
with his demand, and confined himself to 
general reflexions on the necessity of union 
in the church. The adversaries of Zwingle, 
so prompt to accuse and defame him in 
secret, preserved an obstinate silence, 
either because they did not feel in them- 
selves the talent necessary to oppose him 



150 

with advantage, or because they thought 
they perceived the dispositions of the au- 
dience to be too favourable to the reformer. 
The colloquy was likely to have concluded 
without the discussion of any important 
questions, when an incident at length 
brought on the debate. Some parish priests 
complained of the illegal arrest of one of 
their colleagues, who had been carried to 
Constance and detained in prison, on ac- 
count of his opinions relative to the invo- 
cation of saints and of the Virgin. The 
grand vicar rose to justify the conduct of 
his bishop on this occasion; he then added, 
that he himself, after several conversations 
with the priest, had brought him to confess 
and retract his error. At these words 
Zwingle stopped him : this was one of the 
articles to which the reformer was desirous 
of drawing the attention of the synod ; and 
he begged that the grand vicar would im- 
part to him the reasons which he had em- 
ployed to convince his prisoner. 

The grand vicar perceived too late that 
he had committed an imprudence in ad- 
vancing an assertion which he ought ta 



151 

have foreseen that Zwingle would not 
admit without proof; accordingly, instead 
of giving a direct answer, he eluded the 
question by a long discourse on the heresies 
of the early ages, on the eiforts made by 
popes and councils to stifle them, and on 
the temerity of some turbulent men who 
sought to renew ancient disputes. " If it 
be allowable, " said he, " to overturn doc- 
trines established by councils which the 
Holy Spirit directed; and to accuse the 
fathers of the church and our ancestors, 
of having lived in error during a long 
succession of ages, what would be the 
consequences of such boldness? In matters 
of faith it is necessary that the whole 
church should agree, and that is the reason 
why things which concern the whole 
church, ought not to be treated of before 
a particular and not numerous synod, but 
referred to a general council which ought 
to be implictly obeyed. As to those who 
refer to the scriptures in the three lan- 
guages, I reply, that it is not sufficient to 
quote the sacred writings, it is also neces- 
sary thoroughly to understand them. Now, 



152f 

the gift of interpretation is a precious one, 
which God does not grant to all. I do 
not boast of possessing it; I am ignorant 
of Hebre^y; I know little of Greek, and 
though I am sufficiently versed in Latin, I 
do not give myself out for an able orator. 
Far be from me the presumption of erect- 
ing myself into a judge in questions where 
salvation is concerned; these, I repeat it, 
only a general council can decide, I shall 
submit to its decisions without murmuring, 
and perhaps it would become all present to 
show the same submission." 

2wingl6was not satisfied with this eva- 
sive answer; he pressed the grand vicar 
to point out to him those passages of scrip- 
ture by which he could pretend to support 
the invocation of saints and of the Virgin; 
but in vain. He could obtain nothing of 
him and the theologians who accompanied 
him, but quotations from St. Jerome, the 
canon of the mass, St. Gregory's litanies,, 
and references to the miracles daily per- 
formed by the saints. These arguments 
were not of a nature to satisfy the reformer. 
" The fathers of the church," said he, " can- 



153 

not be regarded as unerring guides, since 
they are often not agreed among them- 
selves; Avitness St. Jerome and St. Augustin. 
who had very different opinions on impor- 
tant points. The canon of the mass was 
composed by different popes and bishops 
who were not infaUible; the Htanies of St. 
Gregory prove that the saints were in- 
voked in the time of that pontiff, but not 
that their invocation was founded on 
scripture. As to the miracles attributed 
to the intercession of the Virgin and the 
saints, if the facts quoted really took place, 
we cannot judge whether or not they were 
owing to that intercession." 

" You would have me submit," con- 
cluded Zwingle, " to the decisions of the 
church, because, as you say, it cannot err. 
If by the church you understand the popes 
with their cardinals, how dare you assert 
that it cannot err? Can you deny that in 
the number of the popes there have been 
several who have lived in licentiousness, 
and given themselves up to all the furies 
of ambition, hatred, and revenge; who, in 



154 

order to aggrandize their temporal power, 
have not scrupled to stir up subjects against 
their lawful sovereigns? And how can I 
believe that the Holy Spirit could have en- 
lightened men whose conduct appeared to 
brave the injunctions of Jesus Christ? 

" If by the church you understand the 
councils, you forget how often these coun- 
cils have accused each other of bad faith 
and of heresy. Certainly there is a church- 
that cannot err, and which is directed by 
the Holy Spirit. It is composed of all true 
believers, united in the bonds of faith and 
charity : but this church is only visible to 
the eyes of its divine founder, who alone 
knoweth his own. It does not assemble 
with pomp, it does not dictate its decrees 
in the manner of the kings of the earth; it 
has no temporal reign; it seeks neither 
honours nor domination : to fulfil the will 
of God is the only care by which it is 
occupied." 

This discourse of Zwingle gave rise to 
keen contests, and in the heat of dispute 
the main question was more than once 



155 

lost sight of. The reformer persisted in 
refusing to admit any other proofs than 
such as were drawn from scripture; while 
his adversary wished to choose them 
from the decisions of councils. Neither 
party would yield to the other; but at 
length, the grand vicar and his colleagues^ 
finding that arguments failed them, and 
discouraged by the signs of approbation^ 
bestowed on Zwingle by the assembly, 
became silent. The burgomaster dissolved 
the meeting, and the council alone remained 
assembled. This body thought itself suf- 
ficiently enlightened on the subject of the 
colloquy, and after a short deliberation 
ordered: " that Zwingle, having neither 
been convicted of heresy, nor refuted, 
should continue to preach the gospel as he 
had done heretofore; that the pastors of 
Zurich and its territory should rest their 
discourses on the words of scripture alone, 
and that both parties should abstain from 
all personal reflections.*' 

On the evening of the same day, the 
elergy were again convoked, to hear the 
clecree of the morning. After it had been 



lob 

read to them, Zwingle thanked the council 
for its fatherly care for the good of the 
church. The grand vicar then rose, and 
complained that so important an affair had 
been decided with such precipitation ; he 
asserted that his objections had not been 
answered, and offered to take for arbitrators 
the doctors of any university that it should 
please the council to mention. Zwingle 
rejected this offer, and would only refer 
the matter to scripture; but the grand vicar 
having represented to him that as the same 
passage was often susceptible of two inter- 
pretations, a judge was necessary to decide 
between them; ^' the scripture," replied 
Zv/ingle, '^ explains itself, and has no need 
of an interpreter. If men understand it 
ill, it is because they read it amiss. It is 
always consistent with itself, and the Spirit 
of God acts by it so strongly, that all 
readers may find the truth there, provided 
they seek it with a sincere and humble 
heart. Thanks to the invention of print- 
ing, the sacred books are now withiri the 
reach of all christians; and I exhort the 
ecclesiastics here assembled, to study them 



157 

unremittingly. They will there learn to 
preach Christianity such as it was trans- 
mitted to us by the evangelists and apostles. 
As to the fathers of the church, I do not 
blame persons for reading and quoting them 
in the pulpit, provided it be where they are 
conformable to scripture, and provided 
they be not considered as infallible autho- 
rity." This answer of Zwingle^s only irri- 
tated the grand vicar, and gave rise to some 
altercations foreign from the real question, 
after which the assembly separated."^ 

Thus ended the first colloquy, the 
effect of which was answerable to the 
Avishes of Zwingle. He had not flattered 
himself with the idea of converting his ad- 
versaries in the space of a few^ hours; but 
had been desirous of procuring an oppor- 
tunity of unfolding his opinions in presence 
of the clergy of Zurich, and he took advan- 

*i Fuessli Beytr. zu der Ref, Gesch. der Schweltz. T. ii. 
p. 81. et seq. — After the works of Zwingle, are given the 
acts of this colloquy, translated into Latin. The work of 
Fuessli contains an account of the same colloquy, given by 
a zealous catholic^, secretary of state to the city of Lucern^ 
who was present. 



158 

tage of the few objections brought against 
him to lay down some important principles. 
His simplicity, firmness and gentleness, in- 
jspired his audience with great veneration ; 
his eloquence and knowledge carried away 
those who were hesitating between the two 
parties; and the silence of his adversaries, 
being regarded as a tacit proof of their 
weakness, served his cause almost as much 
as his own arguments. From this time, 
the partisans of reform multiplied rapidly 
in all classes of society. Zwingle derived 
a further advantage from this colloquy. 
Hitherto he had had no support but him- 
self; his reputation was his strength ; but 
it could not alone have upheld him against 
the censures of his bishop, and the attacks 
of colleagues, invested as well as himself 
with a sacred character. Now his govern- 
ment had taken him under its protection, 
and authorized him to complete the work 
that he had begun. What he was about to 
undertake, could no longer therefore be re- 
garded as the illegal innovation of a mere 
private man, but as the preliminaries of a 
reform directed and authorized by the se- 



t 



159 

cular power. The relation between the 
clergy of Zurich and the bishop of Con- 
stance was destroyed ; and at Zwingle's in- 
stigation, the council had put itself in the 
place of the bishop. 

The Swiss reformer has been more than 
once accused, not only by Roman Catho- 
lics, but also by protestants, of having 
allowed too much authority to the secular 
power in ecclesiastical matters. But it 
does not appear from any of the works of 
Zwingle, that it was his intention to trans- 
fer to governments the absolute power over 
consciences v/hich the popes had arrogated 
to th.emselves; he only thought that the 
depositaries of lawful power, being more 
interested than any one else in the preser- 
vation of the order and tranquillity of the 
state, ought to have a share in the direction 
of ecclesiastical affairs. The following are 
some of the ideas on this subject found 
scattered through his different works. 

" No human power can command con- 
viction; therefore neither popes nor coun- 
cils have a right to prescribe to Christen- 
dom what ought to be believed : the scrip- 



160 

ture alone is the common law of all 
christians. If any dispute arises about a 
doctrine or an object of Avorship, it is for 
each church in particular to examine on 
which side reason and the word of God are 
found, and to choose which it will embrace. 
In a well-organised society nothing ought 
to be done without the participation of 
government; it is therefore for it to direct 
the reforms that may be desired by the 
members of the church; to prevent any 
individual from endeavouring at changes 
on his own private authority, and to restrain 
those who, under pretext of reform, are de- 
sirous of disturbing the public peace. To 
avoid the inconveniences attached to the 
deliberations of a numerous assembly, it is 
prudent to intrust the government with the 
care of ascertaining the wish of the com- 
munity on what concerns religion. But, 
in this case, the government is only the 
organ through which the church manifests 
its assent or opposition, and not a judge 
who may decide on what is true or false. — 
It is at once contrary to the gospel and to 
reason, to employ violent measures to ex- 



\ 



161 

tort a confession of faith contrary to con- 
science. Reason and persuasion are the 
arms that a christian ought to employ; if 
they be insufficient, we must be content to 
expect the conversion of those who are 
still in error from time and the force of 
truth. When a religious sect professes 
opinions injurious to society, then, and 
then only, the magistrate may use his power 
to prevent or punish disorders."' 

Zwingle never departed from these 
principles in whatever situations he found 
himself placed between the partisans of the 
ancient faith, and the zealots of his own 
party. 

Notwithstanding the success of the 
reformer in the colloquy of the 29th of 
January, he was not in haste to promote 
alterations. No innovation was made in 
worship; mass continued to be said, and 
the churches remained in the same state, 
but more sermons were delivered for the 
instruction of the people. Zwingle devoted 
himself to preaching with indefatigable 
zeal, and he was assisted in the work by 

' Zuingiii Op. T. i, and ii. 
M 



162 

two of his colleagues, one of whom was 
Leo Jude, with whom he had contracted a 
great intimacy at Einsiedeln. 

While Zwingie was enlightening his 
auditors peaceably and without precipi- 
tation, other partisans of the reformation, 
impatient of his slowness, Avere endeavour- 
ing to attain their end more speedily. 
They published a work at Zurich full of 
vehement declamation, entitled " The Judg- 
ment of God against Images," in which 
the worship paid to them w^as represented 
as real idolatry.' This was enough to in- 
spire several ardent spirits with the desire 
of purging the city of these pretended 
idols. Some of the lov^^er class, having at 
their head an artisan named Nicholas 
Hottinger, assembled and pulled dow^n a 
crucifix erected at the gate of the city.' 
This arbitrary act excited a great commo- 
tion: as soon as the council had new^s of it, 
they caused the culprits to be arrested; but 
when sentence was to be pronounced upon 
them, opinions were divided. What some 

<^ Bull. Schw. Chr. T. iii. H. 
^ Bull. 1. c. 



153 

regarded as a crime worthy of death, ap- 
peared to others the error of an inconside- 
rate zeal which ought to be repressed by a 
slight correction. During the debates upon 
this sentence, Zwingle maintained in public, 
that the law of Moses expressly forbade 
images intended to be the objects of reli- 
gious worship, and that the prohibition 
given to the Israelites was binding also 
upon christians, since it had not been re- 
voked by the gospel. He thence con- 
cluded, that those who had pulled down the 
crucifix could not be accused of sacrilege; 
but he pronounced them deserving of pu- 
nishment for having allowed themselves to 
take such a step without the authority of 
the magistrate. 

This language augmented the embar- 
rassment of the council ; they felt a great 
deference for the opinion of Zwingle; but 
they were fearful of irritating the Cantons 
their allies, who were carefully watching 
their conduct, and were but too much dis- 
posed to reproach Zurich with the protec- 
tion that she granted to heresy. It was, 
besides, become impossible to hold the ba- 

JM 2 



164 

lance even between the two parties; it was 
necessary for the council either to punish 
the iconoclasts with severity, or publicly to 
declare themselves in their favour. Previ- 
ously to pronouncing their decision, the 
council ordered another colloquy for the 
purpose of examining particularly, " whe- 
ther the worship of images w^as authorised 
by the gospel, and whether the mass ought 
to be preserved or abolished." 

The senate in its decree, stated the mo- 
tives and object of the second colloquy; 
they summoned to it the clergy of the 
territory of Zurich, as welt as all persons, 
whether ecclesiastics or laymen, who should 
be desirous of discussing the questions pro- 
posed. They invited also the bishops of 
Constance, Coire, and Basil, the university 
of the latter city, and the other Cantons, 
to send their deputies; but the towns of 
Schaifhaussen and St. Gall were the only 
ones that accepted the invitation. The 
prelates, ecclesiastics, and theologians of 
the Canton, as Avell as many laity, assem- 
bled on the day appointed, October 28, 1523, 
to the number of above 900. Two deputies 



165 

of St. Gall, and one of SchafFhausen were 
named presidents, and charged by the 
council to take care that the prescribed 
conditions were observed. Zwingle and 
Leo Jude were to answer all who defended 
the worship of images and the mass as a 
sacrifice. We shall not enter into the par- 
ticulars of this second colloquy; suffice it 
to say that the victory of the two reformers 
was not disputed, their real adversaries 
still remaining silent, though they had 
been addressed by name. The prior of the 
Augustines, a famous preacher and much 
attached to the ancient orthodoxy, con- 
fessed that he could not refute the theses 
of Zwingle unless he were allowed to have 
recourse to the canon law. The colloquy 
lasted three days; the reformers had time 
sufficient to explain their opinions, and 
succeeded in imparting them to the ma- 
jority of the assembly ; but notwithstanding 
the general approbation that they obtained, 
the council would come to no determinate 
resolution. They dismissed the clergy 
with thanks for the readiness they had 
shown in obeying their summons, and re- 



166 

served it to themselves to ordain at a future 
time what they should judge proper." 

Many persons profitted by this delay to 
beg of the council the pardon of the cul- 
prits. Their long imprisonment appeared a 
sufficient punishment, and they were there- 
fore set at liberty; but Hottinger, the 
principal instigator of the commotion, was 
banished for two years from the Canton of 
Zurich. This slight punishment became 
fatal to the unfortunate man. He repaired 

" Bull, 1. c. — Fuessli Beytr. zu der Ref. Gesch. der 
Schweitz. T. iii. p. 1 . et seq. Zuinglii Op. — In the first and 
second colloquies, the celibacy of the priests was mention- 
ed. Zwingle exerted himself to demonstrate its inconve- 
niences, and to prove that the gospel permitted marriage 
to churchmen. The council avoided pronouncing on this 
question, and even afterwards it never issued either a per- 
mission or express prohibition. The arguments of the 
reformer however produced a great effect 5 several eccle- 
siastics married on their own authority, and no one thought 
of contesting the validity of their marriage. Zwingle 
himself, at the age of forty, married the widow of a very 
respectable magistrate. The offspring of this connection, 
which the premature death of the reformer dissolved a 
few years afterwards, was a son who followed in the career 
of his father, and occupied one of the first stations in the 
church of his country. 



1 67 

to the county of Baden, " where he lived by 
the labour of his hands, neither seeking 
nor avoiding occasions of speaking of his 
religious opinions. He was soon denounced 
to the grand bailiff as having contravened 
an ordinance of the sovereign power, which 
forbade all discussions respecting religion. 
The grand bailiff, who was zealously ortho- 
dox, caused him to be immediately arrested, 
and diligently collected all the depositions 
against him. When questioned upon his 
religious faith, Hottinger did not conceal 
his thorough conviction, that the adora- 
tion of images and the invocation of 
saints was contrary to the word of God. 
This confession appeared sufficient in the 
eyes of his judges to justify a sentence 
of death; but the tribunal at Baden not 
daring to pronounce so severe a judgment, 
the erand bailiff sent his prisoner to 



fe 



pn 



Lucern, where the deputies of seven Can- 
tons condemned him to be beheaded, not- 

^ A Swiss bailliage, the sovereignty of which be- 
bnged in common to the eight fii'st Cantons, each of 
which sent in turn a grand baihfFto govern it. 



168 

withstanding the urgent intercession of the 
senate of Zurich. 

The conduct of Hottinger reminds us 
of that of the ancient martyrs. The tran- 
quilHty and courage which he showed in 
prison, before his judges, and on his way 
to the scaffold, place him in the same rank 
with the first christians. On the place of 
execution he addressed himself to the de- 
puties of the Cantons; he conjured them 
to remain in unity with their brethren of 
Zurich, and not to oppose the reform that 
they were about to undertake, for which 
they saw him die rejoicing. He then im- 
plored the mercy of God in favour of his 
judges, and begged them to open their eyes 
to the truth. Afterwards he turned towards 
the people, and said : " If I have offended 
any one among you, let him forgive me as 
I have forgiven my enemies. Pray to God 
to support my faith to the last moment: 
when I shall have undergone my punish- 
ment, your prayers will be useless to me."^ 

y BuU. Schw. Chr. T. iii. J. Hott. H. E. T. ix. p. 
176. et seq. 



1 



169 

Hottinger was the first in Switzerland 
who died for the cause of reformation; his 
resignation appeared to some the extreme 
of obduracy, to others a subhme firm- 
ness. The council of Zurich could not 
pardon its allies the irregularity of this 
proceeding, which had been completed 
without regard to its protest; and the par- 
tisans of the reformation deeply resented 
the condemnation of a man whose opinions 
were their own.^ 

^ The death of Hottinger did not alarm Zwingle, 
At this very period^, he wrote for his colleagues an abstract 
of evangelical doctrine^, which was to serve them as a 
guide in their preaching. It contains the following pas- 
sage, which proves how faithful Zwingle was to his du- 
ties as a subject. "" There are men," says he^, /^ who 
under pretext of evangelical liberty, are desirous of with- 
drawing themselves from established power : in order to 
refute them, it is sufficient to quote the numerous pas- 
sages of the Old and New Testament, which order us to 
obey the magistrate who is girded with the sword of jus- 
tice. The same may be said of those who refuse to pay 
their debts, and tithes, and the census j for the gospel 
condemns us, since it orders us to give every one what is 
his due ; and the impiety of the pretext of which they 
make use to justify their covetousness or their bad faith, 
renders them still more guilty." Zuinglii O. T. i. f. 264. 



170 

Although the issue of the second collo- 
quy had been favourable to Zwingle, the 
council of Zurich adjourned its decision 
upon the changes to be introduced in wor- 
ship, till the next year. During this in- 
terval, it addressed itself to the bishops of 
Constance, Coire, and Basil, to beg them to 
communicate to it the objections that their 
theologians might have to make against 
the opinions of Zwingle. The bishop of 
Constance alone sent to the council an 
apology for the mass and the use of images, 
in which he laboured to refute the accusa- 
tion of idolatry brought by the reformers 
against the church of Rome. He made a 
distinction between idols which represent 
false Gods, and images of saints who have 
lived on earth, and who since their death 
have been received into heaven. He main- 
tained that the homage paid to the latter 
has nothing criminal in it, but serves, on 
the contrary, to nourish devotion and 
piety/ 

This writing of the bishop's made little 
impression on the council, who found in it 

^ Hott. Helv. Kirch, iii. p. i;3. 



171 

no new arguments : they however commis- 
sioned Zwingie to reply to it, and we shall 
quote some passages from his answer. 

" The law of Moses is express with re- 
gard to images, and has not been abolished 
by the gospel. It not only forbids the 
adoration of any other gods than the Eter- 
nal, it also forbids the making of any like- 
ness of any thing which is in heaven above, 
or in earth beneath, or in the waters 
that are under the earth; and this prohibi- 
tion is apphcable to images of all kinds, 
which are used for worship. The absurd 
impieties of idolaters, and the abuses intro- 
duced among christians, sufficiently prove 
the wisdom of this law. He who first 
placed the statue of a holy man in a temple, 
had certainly no other intention than to 
offer him as an object of imitation to the 
faithful; but men did not stop there. The 
saints were soon surrounded with a pomp 
which impressed the imagination of the 
people; they were transformed into divi- 
nities, and honoured as the pagans honoured 
their Gods. Their names are given to 
temples and altars, and chapels are conse- 



172 

crated to them in woods, in fields, and upon 
mountains. How many men in the hour of 
trouble, or at the approach of danger, in- 
stead of invoking the Omnipotent, call 
upon men who have been dead for ages, 
whose virtues have certainly placed them 
in the mansions of the blessed, but who can 
neither hear nor succour us ! How many 
christians, instead of having recourse to the 
mercy of the Redeemer, expect salvation 
from some saint, the object of their super- 
stitious devotion ! There are even some who 
attribute supernatural virtues to these 
images. In order to enhance the venera- 
tion for them, they are sometimes kept 
concealed, and sometimes brought forth in 
pompous processions. Men consult them 
to learn the future ; and to such a degree 
is the credulity of the vulgar abused, 
that they are made to believe that these 
inanimate statues have uttered words, shed 
tears, and given commands. Look at the 
votive tablets that cover the walls of our 
temples; is there one which testifies the 
gratitude of a christian towards God, the 
dispenser of all good, or Jesus Christ the 



173 

Saviour of the world? No, it is to men whose 
condition on earth was similar to our own, 
that they attribute the miraculous cure of 
a disease, or unexpected succour in the 
hour of danger, or a wise resolution taken 
in some important circumstance of life. Is 
this true piety? To persuade the credulous 
that offer in o;s made to saints can excuse 
the christian from the imitation of their 
virtues, and expiate sins, is this nourishing 
a salutary devotion? Ah no! believe me: 
such superstitious worship only serves to. 
enrich those who patronise it; if you would 
honour the saints, honour them, not by 
addressing prayers to them which belong 
to God alone, not by lavishing upon them 
offerings of which they have no need, but 
by following their example, and by de- 
voting, like them^ your possessions to the 
poor."'^ 

Though this question only related tO' 
worship, it appeared to Zv/ingle of great 
importance. He regarded the doctrine of 
the invocation of saints as a dangerous 
instrument in the hands of the least respect- 

^ Zuinglii Op. T. i. f. 128. 



174 

able part of the clergy, and he judged it im- 
possible to overcome the false ideas of the 
people, unless the objects of their supersti- 
tion were removed from their sight: he 
therefore laboured to procure their banish- 
ment, and succeeded. 

The Reformed of our days still pre- 
serve the severe simplicity introduced by 
Zwingle into their worship. "" The only 
decoration of their churches consists of a 
few texts of scripture inscribed on the 
walls, which invite to serious meditation: 
nothing is there to strike the senses, or 
divert the soul from the contemplation of 
its maker. The Eternal alone fills these 
temples with his invisible majesty, and 
shares not his dominion with mortal man. 
Every thing announces a deity whose na- 
ture has nothing earthly. This simplicity 
has been often blamed, and has found de- 
tractors even in the bosom of the protec- 
tant church. Some great writers have 

^ A perfect conformity in this respect, prevails be- 
tween the churches founded by Calvin, and those by 
Zwingle; but it is important to observe that the latter 
was born, twenty-three years before Calvin. 



175 

taken pleasure in adorning the ceremonies 
of Roman Catholic worship with the charms 
of eloquence and poetry. They have 
painted in the most seductive colours, 
sometimes the magnificence of temples, 
decorated with the masterpieces of all the 
arts; sometimes the august spectacle of a 
venerable pontiff, surrounded with all the 
splendor of royalty, and by his prayers call- 
ing down the favour of heaven on an im- 
mense multitude prostrate at his feet; 
sometimes the interesting festival of the 
patron saint of a village, celebrated under 
the roof of a rustic church : and they have 
thus endeavoured to prove that in order to 
act powerfully on the heart of man, religion 
must speak to the senses. But the advan- 
tages of such a medium may well be doubted. 
In minds naturally inclined to devotion, 
the pomp of worship heightens still more 
the sentiment of piety, because every thing 
recalls to them the feelings which occupy 
their lives, and because they discover in 
every ceremony a deep meaning ; but an or- 
dinary man does not experience the same 
effect; his eyes only are struck with what 



176 

he sees, his ears A^ith what he hears ; his 
heart is not touched, his mind is not en- 
lightened, and he becomes accustomed to 
place all his religion in externals. Can it 
be said that it is necessary to present ob- 
jects to the veneration of the people which 
may serve as steps to enable them to raise 
their thoughts to the deity? Surely the 
christian religion, such as it was taught by 
'its divine founder, sufficiently provides 
for the wants of our weakness by showing 
us a mediator between G od and men, united 
to God by his eternal nature, and assimilated 
to men by the mortal form which he as- 
sumed amiong them. In him, the wise man 
contemplates the whole splendour of deity ; 
Avhile the weak is encouraged by a human 
appearance, and can comprehend and love 
a Saviour who has experienced the pains and 
endearments of life; who binds earth to 
heaven, and time to eternity. 

The work of Zwingle on the mass and 
on images, at length determined the council 
to undertake the reformation of worship. 
In the beginning of the year 1524, it per- 
mitted persons to withdraw from the 



177 

churches the pictures and statues conse- 
crated by themselves or their ancestors, 
and some time after, a positive order was 
given for their removal. Two magistrates 
visited all the churches of the city to cause 
the remaining ornaments to be taken away, 
and in a few days they were entirely 
stripped of their ancient decorations^ with- 
out any disturbance resulting from the 
measure. Some fanatics had indeed pre- 
dicted that the statues would return of 
themselves to their former places; but this 
prediction not being accomplished, the 
images lost all their credit.*^ The govern- 
ment at first caused all the ornaments re- 
moved from the churches to be collected 
and placed in one of its halls, intending 
to preserve them ; but a blind zeal soon in- 
volved them all in the same proscription. 
The pictures were burned, and the statues 
broken, to prevent their ever becoming 
again the objects of superstitious worship; 
and a great number of monuments were 
thus destroyed, the loss of which the re- 

^ Hott. Helv. Kirch. T. iii. p, 179. 



178 

formers themselves regretted.*^ Without 
imposing it as a law on the muncipalities^ 
of the Canton, the council authorised the 
removal of the images from the churches 
if it were the wish of the majority; and 
the example of the capital was generally 
followed/ 

This first innovation excited great dis- 
content in the other Cantons. Facts were 
distorted; the people of Zurich were ac- 
cused of having insulted the objects of the 
veneration of christians ; and Z wingle was 
treated by the monks as guilty of impiety. 
In several diets assembled unknown to the 
senate of Zurich, the deputies of the Can- 
tons engaged never to permit the establish- 
ment of the new doctrine in Switzerland^ 
The council demanded explanations on this 
subject from the confederates, but received 
only vague assurances of friendship which 
did not tranquillize it ; and foreseeing that 
it might find itself under the necessity of 
defending the reformation by force of arms, 

<^ W. Steiner. Hist. Reform, 
f Bull. Schw. Chr. T. iii. G. 



179 

it was desirous of knowing whether the 
fidelity of its subjects could be depended 
on. The council therefore informed them, 
by a proclamation, of the reasons of com- 
plaint given it by the allies; exhorting 
them not to desert a cause in which the 
salvation of their souls was concerned, and 
enjoining them to declare what the council 
might expect from them/ The municipali- 
ties of the Canton replied, that they would 
never separate their interests from those of 
their government, in support of which they 
were ready to make any sacrifices.*" In the 
meantime affairs began daily to assume a 
more alarming aspect; and an event, im- 
possible to be foreseen, soon occurred to in- 
crease the misunderstanding among the 
confederates. 

The village of Stammheim, situated 
upon the frontiers of Thurgaw, was depen- 
dent upon Zurich, its criminal jurisdiction 
alone being in the power of the bailiff of 
Thurgaw. For several years this village 
had possessed a chapel dedicated to St. 

s Bull. Schw. Chr. T. iii. L. 

^ BuU. Schw. Chr, T. Hi. L, 

N S 



im 

Anne, and enriched by the gifts of a multi- 
tude of pilgrims. Notwithstanding the ad- 
vantages that accrued from this concourse 
of strangers to the inhabitants, the latter 
showed themselves very much disposed to 
adopt the reform. They had been pre- 
pared for this step by the bailiff of the 
place, named Wirth, a zealous partisan of 
Zwingle, and by his two sons, both eccle- 
siastics. These men led their fellov/ citizens 
to regard the honours which were offered 
to. the patroness of their village, as idola- 
trous, and persuaded them to burn the 
votive pictures that attested the miracles 
of St. Anne, and to destroy every vestige 
of the worship paid to that saint.' Some in- 
dividuals however beheld their destruction 
v/ith pain, and though compelled to yield 
for the moment to the wish of the majority, 
they carried their complaints before the 
grand bailiff of Thurgaw, Joseph Amberg, 
This person had been himself inclined to the 
opinions of Zwingle ; but when a candidate 
for the office of grand bailiff, in order to ob- 
tain the suffrages of his fellow citizens, all 

i Rhan, Chroii. M. S. 



181 

zealous catholics, he had promised to use his 
utmost power to suppress the new sect in 
Thurgaw. The limits of his jurisdiction 
would not allow him directly to oppose the 
alterations made at Stammheim; but he 
willingly received all depositions made 
against the bailiff Wirth, whom he regarded 
as the chief of the reformed party; and 
thenceforth vowed a violent hatred against 
him, which he took no pains to conceal. 
This hatred occasioned great uneasiness to 
Wirth, who was apprehensive that Amberg, 
abusing his power, should proceed to some 
extremity, and foresaw, from the animosity 
of the Cantons against the reformed, that 
any arbitrary act would remain unpunished. 
In this situation of things, Wirth engaged 
several municipalities of the Canton of 
Zurich and Thurgaw, to promise mutual 
assistance against such attempts as should 
menace their individual safety. Similar 
associations, however irregular they may 
justly appear at the present day, were then 
very customary in Switzerland, a reserve 
being, made on either side for the obedi- 
ence due to their lawful sovereign; and 



182 

these sovereignties, which often were unable 
to furnish prompt and efficacious succour 
to their subjects, did not blame the means 
employed by them for their own defence. 

The minds of men were in that state 
of fermentation which presages untoward 
events, when the grand bailiff of Thurgaw, 
either by order of the Cantons^ or in hope 
of paying his court to them, caused Oechsli, 
pastor of the little town of Stein, to be 
carried off by force, in contempt of the 
privileges of that place. This priest, being 
an intimate friend of Zwingie, with whom 
he had become acquainted at Einsiedeln, 
was the principal apostle of his doctrine in 
Thurgaw, and the grand bailiff Amberg 
hoped to stop the progress of the reforma- 
tion by depriving it of his support. Oechsli 
was roused in the middle of the night by 
soldiers breaking into his house; in vain 
did he call for assistance, and flight or re- 
sistance being equally vain, he v/as obliged 
to yield to force.*" As soon as the inha- 
bitants of Stein and the adjacent villages, 

^ W. Steiner. Hist. Ref. MS.— BiiU. Schw. Chr. 
T. iii. M. 



183 

among which was Stammheim, were ap- 
prised of the arrest of their pastor, they 
sounded the tocsin. In an instant all the 
men able to bear arms assembled and set 
out in pursuit of the grand bailiff's soldiers, 
who were carrying off Oechsli. They 
could not overtake them, being stopped in 
their march by a small river. While they 
were busied in finding means to cross, they 
learned that Amberg had caused the tocsin 
to be sounded on his side, and meant to 
oppose their passage. In order to avoid 
scenes of bloodshed, they sent a request 
that he would release his prisoner on bail, 
engaging that if there were any accusation 
against him, he should appear before the 
tribunals as soon as he was summoned in 
the legal forms. During the parley, the 
people of Stein and Stammheim retired into 
a neighbouring convent named Ittingen' 
They were amicably received by the monks 
who furnished them with provisions, and 
they remained there peaceably during the 
whole day and the night following; but on 
the morrow, when they knew that the grand 
bailiff had refused to set the pastor of Stein at 



184 

liberty, the most turbulent of the peasants 
giving themselves up to a fanatical rage, 
cried out that they ought to revenge them- 
selves on the monks of Ittingen. In vain 
did the bailiif Wirth, who had hastened 
forth at the sound of the tocsin, endea- 
vour to appease the fury of this un- 
governable populace; from abuse they 
proceeded to actual violence against the 
monks, and intoxication was soon added 
to augment the disorder. At this moment 
a courier dispatched by the council of 
Zurich brought an order to the peasants of 
Stammheim, its immediate subjects,^ to 
quit the convent of Ittingen without delay, 
and retire to their own homes. They 
obeyed, but scarcely had they regained 
their dwellings when they saw a violent 
conflagration burst forth at Ittingen. Those 
who had remained behind, all men of 
Thurgaw, or inhabitants of Stein, had first 
pillaged the convent, and then set fire 
to it."^ 

The grand bailiff, in giving an account 
to his government of this fatal event, mis- 

^ BuU. Schw. Chr. T. iii. N. "' Bull. L c. 



185 

represented several circumstances, and 
made no mention of the step by ^vliich he 
had himself given occasion to it. He 
blamed the inhabitants of Stammheimj and 
above all, the bailiff Wirth and his sons, 
whom, he accused of having caused the 
tocsin to be sounded; of being the authors 
of the excesses committed at Ittingen; of 
having broken the pyx, profaned the host, 
and burned the convent. The Cantons 
assembled a diet to deliberate upon the 
measures to be taken, and their indignation 
was such, that they would have marched 
instantly against the hihabitants of Stein 
and Stammheim, and wasted every thing 
with fire and sword. The deputies of 
Zurich represented to them that the grand 
bailiff had provoked this commotion by 
violating the privileges of the toAvn of 
Stein, in the illegal arrest of its pastor. 
•' We must ascertain by a formal pro- 
cedure," said they, " whether the persons 
accused are really worthy of punishment, 
and not have recourse to a violent mea- 
sure which would strike at once the inno- 
cent and the guilty," This opinion pre- 



186 

vailed, and the council of Zurich in conse- 
quence sent one of its members with an 
escort of soldiers to Stammheim to seize 
the principal persons accused. These re- 
ceived an intimation in time, and several 
of them consulted their safety by flight; 
but the bailiff Wirth and his two sons, de- 
pending upon their own innocence and the 
justice of their government, refused to fly. 
" You have no need to use force in arresting 
us," said Wirth to the deputy of the council; 
" if a child had brought us an order from 
our sovereign to appear before it, we should 
have obeyed without resistance." As soon 
as they arrived at Zurich they were ex- 
amined. They acknowledged that they 
had gone out at the sound of the tocsin, 
and that they had followed the crowd to 
Ittingen; but they proved, that far from 
exciting the peasants to disorder, they had 
endeavoured to dissuade them from it, and 
that they had retired as soon as they had 
been ordered so to do by their govern- 
ment. 

These proceedings were communicated 
to the Cantons; but they were not satisfied, 



187 

and required that the prisoners should be 
given up to them, in order to be judged by 
the diet assembled at Baden. In vain did 
the council of Zurich represent, that ac- 
cording to the laws and customs of the 
confederation, it was for that body, as the 
immediate judges of Stammheim, to exa- 
mine whether the crime were capital or 
not; and that since it had decided in the 
negative, the diet had no right over the 
persons accused : the Cantons replied, that 
they would do themselves justice, and that 
they would carry off the prisoners by force 
of arms, if the council continued to refuse 
them. This threat shook the resolution of 
the senate ; a civil war appeared to it inevi- 
table if it persisted in its refusal; it there- 
fore consented to deliver up the prisoners, 
on condition however that their religious 
opinions should not be objected against 
them as a crime, and that the only object of 
this new procedure should be the political 
offences of which they were accused. The 
resolution of the council was blamed by a 
great number of the citizens, at the head of 
whom was Zwingie. '^ To yield to threats/* 



188 

said he, " to renounce your rights when 
the Hfe of a subject is at stake, is a criminal 
weakness from which none but the most 
fatal consequences can be expected. If 
the persons accused were guilty, I should 
be far from wishing to save them from the 
sword of justice, but since they have been 
judged innocent, why deliver them up to 
a tribunal determined beforehand to make 
the whole weight of its hatred against the 
reformed fall upon their heads?"" The re- 
presentations of Zwingle were not regarded. 
The prisoners were conducted to Baden 
and thrown into a dungeon, and their ruin 
was determined on. The grand bailiff 
Amberg had repaired to the diet, and was 
adding fuel to the fury of the judges against 
the unfortunate Wirth and his sons, by 
representing them as enemies of the ca- 
tholic faith. In defect of proofs they were 
put to the torture, in hope of extorting 
from them the confessions necessary to 
condemn them with some appearance of 
justice. They resisted all the torments in- 

« Bull. I. c. 



i 



189 

flicted upon them; but their admirable 
constancy, insteadof softening their judges, 
irritated them still more, and the expres- 
sions that escaped them, betrayed the real 
cause of that hatred of which this unhappy 
family were the victims. The senate of 
Zurich did not on this occasion exert the 
energy that it ought to have displayed; it 
contented itself with expostulations and 
entreaties. The wife of Wirth hastened to 
Baden to implore the mercy of the judges. 
She pleaded that even if there were some 
causes of complaint against her husband, 
he deserved the indulgence of the sove- 
reign power in consideration of his past 
lidelity. " It is true," replied the deputy 
for Zug, who had been grand bailiff before 
Amberg, '' I never knew a man more hos- 
pitable, sincere, and upright than Wirth. 
His house was open to all who stood in 
need of his assistance; he always showed 
himself a good and faithful subject, and 
I cannot conceive what demon can ,,have 
drawn him into this revolt. If he had plun- 
dered, robbed, or even murdered, I would 
willingly speak in his favour; but since he 



190 

lias burned the image of the blessed St 
Anne, the mother of the Virgin, there can 
be no mercy shown him."° 

The examination of the three prisoners 
lasted a long time; at length the deputies 
of the Cantons assembled to pronounce 
sentence: those of Zurich, regarding the 
procedure as illegal, refused to take their 
seats with their confederates. The diet, 
after hearing the report of the examining 
commissioners and the depositions of the 
witnesses; condemned Wirth and his eldest 
son to death; and in order to colour over 
with an appearance of mercy this cruel and 
fanatical sentence, it granted the pardon 
of the second son to the tears of his mother. 
The reasons assigned for the condemnation 
of Wirth were, the part that he had taken 
in the association of the municipalities ; his 
intention of rescuing the pastor of Stein; 
the destruction of the images at Stamm- 
heim ; and his not having . given informa- 
tion of certain seditious words uttered by 
the peasantry. His son was sentenced for 

° BuU. Sclnv. Chr. T. iii. N.— Heidegg. Hospi», 
Kediviv. 



191 

" having preached up the Lutheran and 
Zwinglian sect," and neglected the exercise 
of his sacerdotal functions. 

The suiFerings of the prisoners from 
their long detention in unwholesome dun- 
geons, and from the torture, made them 
regard death as a benefit; and, strengthened 
by the consciousness of innocence, they 
heard their sentence with calmness and 
tranquillity. During the short interval 
between his condemnation and execution, 
Wirth exacted a promise from his second 
son that he would not revenge his death 
upon any who had contributed to it; he 
charged him to bear words of consolation 
and peace to his numerous family, and to 
represent to them that it was for no dis- 
graceful crimes, but in the cause of religion, 
that he lost his life. After taking a last leave 
of each other, the two prisoners proceeded 
to the scaffold, with mutual exhortations 
to courage and resignation; and they re- 
ceived the fatal stroke with the same firm- 
ness that they had shown under the 
torture. P 

P Bull. Schw. Chr, T. iii. O. 



J9£ 

The sentence of death involved the con- 
fiscation of the property of Wirth's widow 
and children: through the interference 
of the Cantons of Basil, Schaifhausen, and 
Appenzellj which had taken no part in the 
sentence, this part of it was remitted, but 
the widow was barbarously condemned to 
pay ten crowns to the executioner, who 
had beheaded her husband and son. Some 
hours after the execution, Wirth's second 
son ^vas set at liberty, with orders to make 
public acknowledgment of his crime at 
Einsiedeln; but he escaped to Zurich, 
where he found an asylum.^ 

If we judge the bailiff Wirth according 
to the principles which ought to guide 
every subject in a well-organized state, we 
cannot regard him as entirely innocent. 
The kind of association in which he con- 
fessed himself an accomplice, Avould at this 
day be justly considered as an act of rebel- 
lion; but we ought to transport ourselves 
to the times when these events took place. 
There was then in Switzerland something- 
indeterminate in the relation between the 

1 Bull. 1. c. 



193 

sovereign power and the subject; the limits 
of the different jurisdictions were very 
uncertain; a number of rights had no other 
foundation than long possession, which it 
was necessary to prove by living witnesses; 
others only rested on documents little 
known ; and it was not rare, at this period, 
for gentlemen, and even prelates, to commit 
acts of violence upon the subjects of their 
neighbours. 

From these united causes, a thousand 
dangers resulted to the security of persons 
and property; and the subjects, without 
opposition from their legal sovereign, 
sought protection from coalitions and mu- 
tual promises of assistance among them- 
selves. It is therefore probable that Wirth's 
judges would not have imputed the con- 
federacy of Stammheim to him as a crime, 
but for the hatred that they bore him as a 
partisan of Zwingle's doctrine. They saw 
with alarm that his opinions werebeginning 
to spread in the districts governed in com- 
mon, and the surest way to stop their progress 
was to strike men's minds by an execution 
calculated to inspire terror in all who 
o 



194 

were inclined to the reformation. The 
blood of these two victims was not however 
sufficient to appease the Cantons; they 
wanted to punish by an armed force the 
villages which had taken part in the burn- 
ing of the convent of Ittingen; but the 
senate of Zurich would permit nothing but 
judicial proceedings, and the diet, after 
long debates, restricted itself to the impo- 
sition of a pecuniary fine upon the guilty. 
Thus ended this unfortunate affair; a me- 
lancholy example of the fury of fanaticism, 
and the fatal source of fresh animosities.'^ 

The heads of the Cantons, notwith- 
standing their hatred against Zwingle, could 
not conceal from themselves the conviction 
that the general corruption of manners, and 
the misconduct of the clergy, rendered a 
reform indispensable. They saw how much 
the negligence of the ecclesiastical autho- 
rities favoured the new sect, and observing 
that the chief shepherd was silent, and 
slept when he ought to have watched, they 
resolved themselves to provide for the 
wants of the church, and the tranquiUity 

^ Bull. Schw. Chr. T. iii. R. 



195 

of their common country. A diet was 
convoked to this effect at Lucern, in which 
were assembled the deputies of the Cantons 
of Bern, Lucern, Uri, Schweitz, Unter- 
walden, Zug, Claris, Friburg, and Soleure. 
Without entering into theological discus- 
sions, or touching upon doctrine, they 
formed a plan of regulations particularly 
designed to correct the manners, to put 
a stop to the vexations exercised by the 
clergy, to reduce the power of that order 
to its just bounds, and to prevent it from 
trenching upon the rights of the secular 
power. They hoped by this means to put 
an end to those causes of discontent which 
disposed men to welcome the opinions of 
the reformers; but they did not perceive 
that most of the abuses generally com- 
plained of were the necessary consequence 
of the dog-mas combated by Zwingle; and 
that while these were suffered to subsist, it 
was impossible to obviate their incon- 
veniences. 

The plan of the deputies, when carried 
before the governments of the Cantons, 
did not obtain their sanction. Those men 
o 2 



196 

whose interests it wounded, or whose pas- 
sions it opposed, found specious reasons for 
rejecting it, and its projectors had neither 
energy nor authority sufficient for its sup- 
port. At length it was resolved to suspend 
all deliberations on the state of the church, 
and to leave to the future council, so long 
demanded and promised, the care of pacify- 
ing Christendom.' 

While these events were passing at Lu- 
cern, they were proceeding at Zurich in 
the task of removing the monuments of 
the ancient superstition. The relics ex- 
posed in the different churches of the 
city were taken away and secretly in- 
terred. It was forbidden to toll the bells 
for the dead, and to conjure storms; and 
processions, and a number of other cere- 
monies, were abolished. So strong had 
been the impulse given by Zwingle, that 
these particular reforms met with no oppo- 
sition ; but a more essential one remained — 
the abolition of the mass ; that corner-stone 
of the catholic religion. Ever since the 

>■ Hospin. Hist. Sacram. ii. 2. 3. Bull. Schw. Chr. 
T. m. N. 



197 

year 1523, the reformer had manifested an 
opinion on this subject contrary to that of 
the Romish Church. " Jesus Christ," said 
he, " died on the cross to satisfy the divine 
justice: this signal sacrifice expiates the 
sins of all who believe in him ; there is-- 
therefore no need of new sacrifices, and 
the Lord's supper ought to be nothing but a 
commemoration of the beneficent death of 
our Saviour." Conformably to these ideas, 
Zwingle was desirous of introducing some 
changes into the canon of the mass, still 
retaining the vestments of the priests, and 
various accessories which did not appear to 
him contrary to the spirit of the gospel ; 
and he proposed these alterations to the 
senate, but they acljourned their decision 
till the following year. Zw^ingle employed 
the interval in the more complete investi- 
gation of this important subject; and he 
saw that if he preserved any part of the 
ancient rites, it would keep up the false 
ideas of the people, and soon bring them 
back to the point from which they set out. 
He therefore congratulated himself on the 
delay to which he had been forced to submit. 



19^ 

" My first advice was not followed," thus 
he writes some time afterwards to one of 
his friends, " and I am thankful to provi- 
dence that it was not; this would only 
have been substituting one error to another, 
and the rite newly established would have 
been much more difficult to abolish than 
that of our ancestors.'" 

This confession is a proof of Zwingle'3 
candour, and would alone be sufficient to 
refute the accusation of fanaticism which 
has more than once been brought against 
him. A fanatic believes that he acts and 
speaks by an immediate inspiration ; he attri- 
butes his illuminations to a kind of miracle 
in which his Avill had no share, and not to 
his own researches and meditations. He 
never retracts, and would rather die than 
confess himself to have been mistaken. 
Such obstinacy was foreign to the mind of 
Zwingle. He confesses more than once, 
in his noble simplicity, that his own reflec- 
tions, or the observations of others, had 
suggested to him reasons for rejecting an 
opinion which he had before embraced; and 

« Zuinglii et Oecolampadii Epist. f, II6. b. 



199 

never did self-conceit prevent him from 
listening to the ideas of his adversaries, and 
giving up his own when he was convinced 
of their falsehood.' The mass then sub- 
sisted for some time longer, but no priest 
was compelled to say, nor any laymen to 
hear it. It was gradually neglected: at 
length, in the beginning of the year 1525, 
the reformer obtained its entire abolition, 
and on Easter Sunday, for the first time, 
the Lord's supper was celebrated according 
to Zwingle's ideas. A table covered with 
a white cloth, unleavened bread, and cups 
filled with wine, recalled the remembrance 
of the last repast of our Redeemer with his 
disciples. The first priest, who was Zwingle 
himself, announced to the faithful, that the 
religious act which they were about to 
celebrate would become to each of them 
the pledge of salvation, or the cause of 
perdition, according to the dispositions 
they might bring to it; and he endeavoured, 
by a fervent prayer, to excite in all their 
hearts repentance for past faults, and a re- 
solution to live a new life. After this 

^ Zuinglii Op. T. i. f. igo. 



200 

prayer, Zwingle and the two ministers who 
assisted him, presented mutually to each 
other the bread and the cup, pronouncing 
at the same time the words uttered by 
Jesus Christ at the institution of the last 
supper; they afterwards distributed the 
symbols of the body and blood of the 
Redeemer to all the christians present, who 
listened with the most profound and reve- 
rent attention to the reading of the last 
words of our Lord, as they have been 
transmitted to us by his beloved disciple. 
A second prayer, and hymns full of the 
expression of love and gratitude towards 
him who had voluntarily endured a cruel 
and ignominious death to save repentant 
sinners, terminated this solemn and affect- 
ing ceremony. Zwingle was of opinion 
that to celebrate the Lord's supper in this 
manner, was to bring it back to its ancient 
simplicity, and to unite all that could 
render it useful. The event proved that 
he was not mistaken; the churches could 
scarcely contain the immense crowd that 
came to participate in this religious so- 
lemnity, and the good works and numerous 



201 

reconciliations which followed it, proved 
the sincerity of the devotion with which 
it was attended.'' 

The reformation in worship had been 
accompanied with essential changes in the 
relations existing between the clergy and 
the government. We have said before, that 
the chapter of the cathedral was nowise 
dependent on the council; that it possessed 
fiefs, had its peculiar jurisdiction, and ad- 
ministered its own property without ren- 
dering an account to any one. Zvv^ingle, 
who a short time after his arrival at Zurich 
had been admitted into the number of 
canons, was desirous of consecrating to 
establishments for instruction, the large 
revenues of the chapter, and at the same 
time of transferring its temporal povv^er into 
the hands of the government; but he wished 
to obtain this concession by the free con- 
sent of the possessors, not to wrest it from 
them by authority. With this intention, 
he made his colleagues sensible that it was 

^ Zuinglii Op. T. i. f. 563. The Holy Supper is still 
celebrated at Zurich according to the ritual established hj 
Zwingle. 



203 

disgraceful to live by the altar without 
serving it, and that they ought to renounce 
functions incompatible with the ecclesi- 
astical character: he also represented to 
them, that if they did not attend to the 
reforms which had now become necessary, 
it was to be feared that the magistrates 
themselves might undertake them. 

The partisans of Zwingle in the chapter 
entered into his views; the enemies of his 
opinions yielded to the fear that they might 
be stripped of all their privileges unless 
they sacrificed some of them voluntarily; 
and the chapter in consequence made a 
convention with the senate, of which the 
following were the principal articles. 

The chapter swears fidelity and obedi- 
ence to the council of Zurich, as to its sole 
and lawful sovereign ; to which it resigns 
its 7^egal rights, as well as those of high and 
low justice in its fiefs; the chapter renounces 
the immunities, privileges and franchises 
Avhich it had successively obtained from 
several popes; it charges itself with the 
payment of salaries to as many pastors as 
shall be requisite for the public worship of 



20S 

the town, and engages to devote to pastoral 
functions such of its members as may be 
capable of performing them. The canons 
who are old or infirm shall preserve their 
benefices, but shall not be replaced by suc- 
cessors; and the revenues of the said bene- 
fices, as they become vacant, shall be em- 
ployed in founding professorships for lec- 
turers whose instructions shall be gratuitous. 
The provost of the chapter shall preserve 
the administration of its revenues, of which 
he shall render an account to the senate, 
which engages on its part to maintain the 
chapter in possession of all its property, 
and to protect it, should it be molested on 
account of this cession."" Several of the 
canons protested against this convention, 
alledging that the chapter had no right to 
make such important changes without the 
authority of the bishop or the pope; but 
the opposition of a feeble minority was 
disregarded. Some members of the chapter 

^ Bull. Schw. Chr. Op.T. iii. H. These conditions were 
religiously observed ; the chapter still subists as Zwingle 
organised it, and its revenues continue to be administered 
according to his regulations. 



S04 

made themselves useful as preachers and 
pastors; the others, who were too old or 
too ignorant for these employments, en- 
joyed their benefices till their death. Five 
canons only, not choosing to depend on 
the secular authority, which they had more 
than once braved, quitted the city and re- 
tired into the catholic Cantons. 

The example of the chapter of the 
cathedral was immediately followed by the 
abbey of Fraumiinster; the abbess, only 
reserving pensions for herself and her nuns, 
resigned to the senate all her property and 
privileges, with the right of nam.ing the civil 
tribunal and of coining money.^ As soon 
as the disposeable revenues of the abbey 
would permit, the senate established in it a 
seminary where a certain number of young- 
men, destined to the clerical profession, 
were clothed, fed, lodged and instructed, 
gratis. 

There still remained in the town several 
mendicant orders, and the monks were not 
disposed to renounce the useless and indo- 
lent life that they had been accustomed to 

y Hott. Helv. Kirch. T. iii. p. 206. 



205 

lead. They had ah'eady lost a great part 
of their influence, and they felt it diminish 
every day; hut the opposition of the other 
Cantons to all reform, led them to hope 
that Zurich vs^ould be obliged to yield either 
to the remonstrances of her allies, or to 
open force, and that then their authority 
would be reestablished. The council anni- 
hilated this hope by deciding upon the 
suDpression of the mendicant orders. Such 
monks as were young and robust Avere 
commanded to learn trades, in order to 
render themselves useful to society. They 
who had taste and inclination for study, 
were furnished with the means of know- 
ledge. To those who were aged, the 
council granted annuities for their support, 
and a common habitation in the convent of 
the Franciscans:^ that of the Dominicans 
was transferred into a hospital, and its 
revenues were devoted to the maintenance 
and cure of the sick of the town and Can- 
ton; the revenues of the convent of Augus- 
tins were appropriated to relieve the more 
decent poor, and to afford some assistance 

^ Zuinglii, et Qecolampadii Epist. f. 37. 



£06 

to such Hestitute strangers as should be 
travelling through Zurich/ The other re- 
ligious houses insensibly received a similar 
destination. Their older occupants were 
every where permitted to die in peace, 
retaining their benefices and their habita- 
tion; and those who still possessed the 
means of being useful, were restored to 
society. Cupidity had no part in this se- 
cularization; the property of the clergy 
was neither embezzled by individuals, nor 
swallowed up by the treasury ; it only re- 
ceived a more enlightened and more truly 
pious 4estination. In order to prevent its 
being at an after period diverted to other 
purposes than those above enumerated, it 
was agreed that the property of the con- 
vents should not be alienated, but should 
remain united under the management of a 
single administrator. The disinterestedness 
and moderation that presided over these 
arrangements, do honour to Zwingle. On 
this occasion he had to struggle with a 
number of unprincipled men, who saw in 
the suppression of the monasteries an easy 

^ Bull. Schw. Chr. T. iii. H. 



207 

method of enriching themselves, of which 
they would certainly have availed them- 
selves, to the detriment of the public, had 
not the vigilance and firmness of the re- 
former disconcerted their projects.^ 

Sometime after the conclusion of these 
arrangements between the council and the 
chapter, Zwingle was commissioned to 
organise a system of public instruction. 
He knew that it is impossible to banish 
ignorance and superstition, without the 
assistance of a permanent centre of in- 
formation; and it was his most ardent 
desire to create establishments in hia 
adopted country, which might propagate 
in it a taste for literature, and furnish the 
means of proficiency. He thus hoped tf> 
become the benefactor of future genera- 
tions, and deserve the benedictions of his> 
countrymen. If the shortness of his life 
did not allow him to complete the edifice 
of which he had conceived the plan, he at 
least laid its foundations, and his successors, 
had only to follow up his ideas. 

Zurich already possessed a school for 

^ Bull. 1. c. 



^08 

elementary instruction in the learned lan- 
guages, but it was ill organized, and could 
number but few scholars. Zwingle intro- 
duced several changes into it; he encou- 
raged the masters by being present at their 
lessons, and excited the emulation of the 
scholars by proposing to them, as a recom- 
pense, the honour of being educated at the 
expense of the state. He was desirous that 
the youths, on leaving this school, should 
go through a complete course of Greek 
and Latin literature; and two professors 
were named for these departments. They 
were not to confine themselves to the 
grammatical interpretation of ancient writ- 
ings; but were to unfold to their pupils the 
laws of composition, and lead them to re- 
mark the beauties of authors. V/hen the 
young men Vvxre sufficiently prepared, they 
were to proceed to the study of theology, 
the principal object of Zwingle's solicitude, 
and the chief end of all his establish- 
ments. 

In order to form ministers well in- 
structed in all that they were to teach, it 
was not sufficient to adopt the method then 



^09 

iri use at most universities ; a method which 
indeed rendered its pupils able in discussing 
unintelligible questions, but did not instruct 
them how to deliver to the people the truths 
of religion. Zwingle banished those subtile 
writers who had ruled so long in the schools 
of theology, and took the Old and New 
Testament for the basis of the new course 
of instruction. He required of the pro- 
fessors intrusted with the interpretation of 
the Greek and Hebrew text, to compare 
the originals of the sacred writers with the 
most esteemed versions, such as the Vul^ 
gate and the Septuagint;*' to cite the com- 
mentaries of the Jewish doctors on the Old 
Testament, and those of the fathers on the 
New ; to apply a knowledge of the manners 
and customs of the Jews to the clearins* 
up of obscure jiassages, to establish the 

^ It is well known that the Vulgate is a latin transla- 
tion of the scriptures : the Septuagint is a Greek transla- 
tion of tlie books of the Old Testament, made by order 
of Ptolemy Philadelphus, about two hundred and seventy 
years before Christ. It is so called because it is said to 
have been the work of seventy Jewish doctors, sent by 
the high priest Eleazai*, to Ptolemy, 
P 



true sense of each, to show its connection 
with the other truths of rehgion, and finally 
to point out the application to be made of 
them to morals and the instruction of the 
people/ These lectures were given in the 
cathedral; and the ecclesiastics of the town, 
as well as the students of divinity, were 
obliged to attend them. Zwingle even 
endeavoured to attract thither all who had 
leisure and inclination for study; and in 
this he succeeded; for at that period the 
interest in every thing which concerned 
religion was such, that numerous auditors 
of all classes assiduously attended the 
theological lectures; and a taste for the 
ancient languages was so thoroughly dif- 
fused, that twenty years afterwards, it was 
not uncommon to meet with magistrates 
and merchants who could read the Old and 
New Testament in the originals.^ 

When it was first proposed to found the 
new academy, there were not persons to be^ 
found in Zurich capable of filling all the 

^ Bull, in Comment ad Epist. PauU. 
« Aloysius von Orelli. p. 4g2.. 



211 

professorships that Zwingle was desirous of 
estabHshing, and he was therefore obhged 
to have recourse to learned foreigners. 
The first to whom he applied was Conrad 
Pellican, .an Alsatian, well versed in the 
Hebrew language, which he had studied 
under Capnio. He had entered young into 
the order of Franciscans; but his love for 
study had always preserved him from the 
vices with which the monks of his time 
were chargeable. He acquitted himself 
to the satisfaction of his superiors in several 
missions relating to the affairs of his order; 
and being afterwards appointed to the olhce 
of instruction, he introduced the young 
rehgious intrusted to his care, to a know- 
ledge of the writings of Erasmus and Luther, 
and principally of the German bible of the 
latter. Before Luther and Zwingle had 
published their opinions, Pellican had 
begun to entertain doubts respecting several 
dogmas then received; his natural timidity 
however, and the blind respect for the au- 
thority of the church in which he had been 
brought up from his infancy, had led him 
to confine these doubts within his own 
p S 



^ 



12 



bosom/ but the reading of the works of 
the two reformers broke the bonds which 
had fettered his spirit. PelHcan was a pro- 
fessor at the university of Basil when, in 
1^265 Zwingle proposed to him to come 
and occupy the chair of theology at Zurich : 
to this he consented the more readily as his 
religious opinions had drawn upon him some 
inconveniences at Basil, where the refor- 
mation was not yet introduced. During 
thirty years he rendered great services to 
the church of Zurich by his lectures and 
writings. He died at a very advanced 
age, leaving behind him a great reputation 
for piety, modesty, and erudition.^ 

The second stranger introduced by 
Zwingle was Rodolph CoUinus, son of a 
peasant in the neighbourhood of Lucern. 
A canon of that city had given him his 
first lessons in Latin, and explained to him 
some books of the iEneid ; and being after- 
wards left to his own efforts, he studied 
the other latin poets with indefatigable ar- 

^ Siml. in vita Bull. p. 1 1* 
g M. Adami Vitae Theol. Germ. p. 2p6.— Hott. U^h 
Kirch. T. iii. p, 38. et seq. 



215 

dour. He successively frequented the unir- 
versities of Basil and Vienna, and returning 
to Lucern, though still very young, he ob? 
tained a canonry. His acquaintance A\^ith 
Zwingle and some other reformers, gained 
him enemies who accused him of heresy, 
and elicited from the senate of Lucern an 
order to search his Hbrary and his papers. 
The commissioners appointed for this exa^ 
mination having found in his library the 
works of Aristotle, Plato, and some of the 
Greek poets, judged that books printed in 
a language that they did not understand, 
must be infected with Lutheranism^ and 
confiscated them.^ From this first attack 

*^ The ignoran.ce of the laity was the more natural a§ 
it was kept up by the very pen destined to instruct them« 
A monk declaiming in the pulpit against Zwingle and 
Luther and all who took part with them, said to his audi- 
ence ', '^ A new language was invented sometime ago which 
has been the mother of all these heresies, the Greek. A 
b.qok is printed in this language called the NewTestament, 
\yhich contains many dangerous things. Another language 
is nqw forming, the Hebrew ; whoever learns it immedi- 
ately becomes a Jew." Conr. Heresbach cited by Geriiler. 
Vide J. von Miillers Schw, Gesch. T. iv. p. 455. 



214 

Coliinus foreseeing many others to which 
he did not choose to expose himself, under 
pretext of going to Constance to take hol}^ 
orders, he quitted Lucern, and arriving at 
Zurich, he remained there and sent back 
his canon's diploma to the chapter. This, 
step depriving him of all pecuniary re^ 
sources, in order that he might not be a 
burden upon his friends he resolved to learn 
a trade, and after labouring in the day to 
gain a livelihood, he recreated himself in 
the evenings by reading Homer and Pindar. 
A mechanical occupation could not how- 
ever long detain one of his lively and im- 
petuous disposition, and he relinquished it 
to enter into the service of Duke Ulric of 
Wirtemberg, who was then endeavouring 
to reconquer his states which had been 
seized upon by the Swabian league; but 
this prince having been compelled to dis- 
band his troops, Coliinus returned to Zurich, 
where Zwingle, who had never lost sight of 
him, was at length enabled to offer him a 
Greek professorship. Coliinus accepted it 
with delight; thenceforward he consecrated 



215 

himself entirely to letters, and his eixorts 
were crowned with the happiest success/ 

Two chairs of theology, and two of 
ancient languages, were the foundation 
of the academy of Zurich. In proportion 
as benefices became vacant, professors of 
other sciences were named, but the academy 
always retained strong traces of its original 
destination; that of forming ministers of 
rehgion. The interpretation of scripture 
always occupied the first place in it. If 
the preference given by Zwingle to this 
object may have been injurious to some 
other studies, it has at least had the advan- 
tage of producing, from the reformation 
down to our own days, a great number of 
enlightened ecclesiastics, by whose care re- 
ligious instruction has been diffused through 
all classes of society, and by whose active 
vigilance the germs of vice have been 
crushed before they had time to expand. 

^ K.^oUimVita M.S.— Hott, Helv. Kirch. T. iii, 

p. 124. Un. 



LIFE OF ZWINGLE, 

THE SWISS REFORMER. 



PART. II. 



When men of superior genius have given 
a new direction to thought, it often hap- 
pens that persons of heated imaginations 
and unsound judgment seize their ideas, 
and in commenting upon them, deduce 
dangerous consequences. The reformers 
did not escape this fatahty; they could 
not prevent their opinions from being 
strangely disfigured. They had said that 
it was necessary to banish from the schools 
an abstract and subtile science which filled 
the memory with nothing but words ; and 
immediately some ignorant people pro- 
scribed all the sciences, and acknowledged 
^Q other source of illumination than a su^ 



218 

pernatural inspiration, shared by none but 
the elect. When they had modestly of- 
fered the dictates of truth to the ears of 
the great, in order to recall them to a 
sense of their duties, the enemies of all 
subordination, abusing their example, and 
mistaking licentiousness for sincerity, be- 
gan to treat the respect due to rank, to 
power, and to birth, as meanness and cow- 
ardice, and sought to establish a chimerical 
equality. When they had insisted upon 
the necessity of lessening the magnificence 
of religious ceremonies, certain extravagant 
minds instantly rejected all public wor- 
ship, as contrary to evangelical simplicity ; 
and when they sought to emancipate chris- 
tians from the yoke of a few minute ob- 
servances, some pretenders to inspiration 
immediately proclaimed that a regenerated 
soul need follow no other rule than its own 
will and desires. 

Many writers have made the reform- 
ers accountable for the dreams of the fa- 
natics of their times, and the disturbances 
that they occasioned; as if it were just to 
confound the parasite plant and the tree 



£19 

which unwillingly serves it for a support. 
The reformation certainly brought forth a 
great number of sects; but if wild ideas 
then spread rapidly through all classes of 
society, and excited violent disputes, it 
was because the reformers had roused their 
contemporaries from their torpor respect- 
ing matters of religion. There are times 
when extravagant systems are not wel- 
comed in the world; but we should be 
mistaken in ascribing to enlightened rea- 
son, or a general diffusion of knowledge, 
a tranquillity, which is often only the effect 
or the indication of absolute indiiference. 
When, on the contrary, subjects connected 
with religion inspire a general interest; 
when particular circumstances direct men's 
minds towards serious thoughts, a crowd 
of opinions will arise, both true and false, 
rational and absurd. They are embraced 
with warmth, because they gratify a long- 
fostered wish; they are defended with ob- 
stinacy, because they are connected Avith 
what is most dearly cherished. This was 
what took place in the l6th century, and 
as the refinements of civilization had not 



yet mollified the passions, the disputes of 
that time assumed a character of violence 
which astonishes at the present day. 

It was in Saxony, in the year 1521, 
that the first indications appeared of a 
sect which had nearly become fatal to the 
progress of the reformation. Luther, in a 
work on " Christian liber t}^," had said, 
that "a christian is master of all things, 
and is subservient to no one." In another 
passage of the same work, he, calls the 
christian " the slave of all men." The 
first of these propositions found more par- 
tisans than the second. Nicholas Storch, 
and Thomas Miintzer, both born in Thu- 
ringia, took literally this lax expression of 
the Saxon reformer, and made it the basis 
of their religious system. " The true 
christian," said they, " has no need either 
of spiritual superiors, or temporal magis- 
trates. — The written word of God is not 
the true one; for this proceeds immedi- 
ately from the mouth of God, and reaches 
the heart of the believer without any thing 
i?ij;ermediate. — The whole world wants re- 
generating, and the impious must be extir-r 



221 

pated from the face of the earth, to give? 
place to a new church in which justice 
shall reign." ^ They spoke with disdain of 
all human learning, declaring that God 
manifested his will to them by immediate 
revelations and celestial visions. Their 
morality was rigid, their exterior simple; 
they disdained riches, or affected to do so ; 
and their austere demeanour impressed the 
multitude with reverence, at the same time 
that their doctrine seduced them. They at- 
tached little importance to religious prac- 
tices; but they especially rejected the bap- 
tism of infants as an impious ceremony, 
an invention of the dex)iL This sacrament, 
according to them, ought only to be ad- 
ministered to adults, who, being enlightened 
by divine grace respecting their past faults, 
must deeply repent them, and fervently 
desire the pledge of heavenly forgiveness. 
Ihe custom of rebaptising new converts, 
gained for this sect the name of anabap- 
tists, which became common to all those 
who reject infant baptism. It must not 

^Mosh. Eccl. Hist. Fuessli Bejtr. zu der Schweitz" 
Ref. Gesch. T. i. ii. iv. 



however be supposed that all whom theo- 
logians and historians call by this name 
were similar in doctrine or in morals. 
Their distinctive character consisted in 
recognising no authority in matters of re- 
ligion, not even that of scripture, which 
they explained at their pleasure. They 
pleaded that the letter kills, and the spiint 
quickeneth^ and they gave themselves up 
without reserve to the suggestions of 
an imagination more or less unruly.'' 
None of their leaders possessing the re- 
quisite qualities to gain a decided in- 
fluence over them, the sect quickly divided 
into a multitude of small separate societies. 
Without entering into a long detail of all 
the dogmas which have been attributed to 
them, either truly or falsely, we shall men- 
tion those that were equally adopted by 
the different parties among them. 

" Neither the Romish church, nor that 
of the pretended Reformed, is the real 
church of Christ. The Reformed indeed 
follow the gospel, at least in part, but they 
rnanifest no signs of amendment. We 

** Vide Fuessli Beitraege. 



t*>C) 



)Z3 



must therefore separate ourselves from 
them, that we may not participate in their 
sins, and their condemnation. — The preach- 
ers among the Reformed have not the true 
calhng; they do not themselves practise 
what they teach; they receive a salary, 
and, in short, they do not possess the qua- 
lities that spiritual guides ought to pos- 
sess. Every believer, who feels himself 
impelled by the Holy Spirit, has a right to 
preach in assemblies, without belonging to 
a particular order. Charity requires an 
entire community of goods, and it is not 
lawful for a christian to possess any thing 
of his own. — To exercise the functions of 
magistracy, to bear the sword of justice, to 
resist violence, to make Avar, and to take 
an oath under any pretext whatsoever, are 
all actions forbidden by the gospel : it fol- 
lows, that in the new church there can be 
no need either of magistrates, of tribunals, 
or of orovernments. Evil doers ouo'ht to 
be punished only by excluding them from 
the communion of the elect. — True chris- 
tians ought to separate themselves from 
such as do not admit our doctrines, to 



224 

break oif all communication with them, 
and to bear with patience the persecutions 
that this conduct may draw upon them."^ 

It appears by this short abstract, that 
the opinions of the anabaptists were founded 
upon their false interpretations of scrip- 
ture. They were not aware, that in the 
christian religion there are some things 
immutable, and others which may be mo- 
dified by times and circumstances. Inca- 
pable of rising to general views, they were 
desirous of renewing the manner of life of 
the first christians, the contemporaries of 
the apostles ; not considering that the rules 
and practices which suited the disciples of 
Jesus, when they were dispersed in small 
numbers in the midst of Jews and idolaters^ 
ceased to be applicable the moment that 
whole nations embraced Christianity. Some 
meiv^^sere found among the anabaptists, 
whose intentions were pure, and whose 
conduct was irreproachable; but their en- 
thusiasm often laid them at the mercy of 
such impostors as sought to gain an in- 
fluence over them, and unprincipled and 

«^ Ottii Annales Anab. p. 21. Bull, de Anab. L. r. 4. 



ambitious leaders more than orice led theiil 
into revolt by abusing their credulity/ 
Thomas Miintzer, one of the heads of the 
anabaptists, in travelling through Ger- 
many, arrived on the borders of Switzer- 
land, where he had an interview with two 
natives of Zurich, named Grebel and Mantz, 
whose gloomy and restless disposition rem 
dered them very accessible to extravagant 
ideas.^ They were both of them possessed 
of sufficient learning to be employed by 
Zwingle in the projected academy; and 

^ I shall cite but one example of their culpable ex- 
cesses. John Bockold, a journeyman tailor of Leyden, 
giving himself out for an inspired person, succeeded iii 
causing a revolt of the subjects of the bishop of Munstfer, 
put himself at their head, and took possession of the city of 
Murtster,' which he called the New Jerusalem. He there 
establislied a community of goods, introduced polygamy, 
assumed the title of^ king, and governed the city during 
three years, giving himself up to the most monstrous ex- 
cesses of cruelty and debauchery, and punishing the 
slightest murmur against him with death. Being at- 
tacked by the united forces of the landgrave of Hesse, 
and the bishop of Munster, he sustained a siege of several 
months. He yielded at length, and a cruel execution 
terminated his short career. Mosh. Eccl. Hist. 
» Bull. Schw. Chr. T. iii. O, 
Q 



S26 

they wished two canons to be deprived of 
their benefices, in order to endow the chairs 
which were the objects of their ambition. 
The reformer refused their request, alleging 
against it, the engagement entered into to 
allow the titular dignitaries the enjoyment 
of their benefices for life. The discontent 
that they conceived at this refusal, and, 
perhaps some jealousy of the influence of 
Zwingle, inclined these two men against 
him, and disposed them to listen to the 
insinuations of Miintzer. They endea- 
voured however, after their interview with 
this fanatic, to draw Zwingle himself into 
their party. To this end, they represented 
to him, that his reformation would be at- 
tended with no success, unless h^ required 
his followers to break off all communica- 
tion with false christians. They exhorted 
him to proclaim the necessity of this sepa- 
ration, and to put himself at the head of 
the new church, which was destined to ad- 
mit into its bosom none but the true elect/ 
Had the reformer been guided by th^ 
desire of becoming the head of a party, he 

f Bull. 1. c. Zuinglii Op. T. ii. f. 7, 



2^7 

would certainly have yielded to this temp- 
tation; but ambition never blinded him, 
and his clear understanding easily dis- 
cerned the falsehood of the arguments 
employed to persuade him. " In the numr 
ber of those who embrace the christian 
faith,'* replied he to G rebel and Mantz, 
^'sorne enemies of innocence and piety 
will always be found, who betray by their 
conduct the perverse dispositions of their 
hearts; but it is not for us to judge them. 
Christ commands that the tares should be 
allowed to grow with the wheat till the 
harvest; and it does not become us to 
make a separation which he did not judge 
necessary. We should never give up the 
hope of bringing back into the right path 
those who have gone astray, and we ought 
to labour at the advancement pf the kingr 
dom of heaven by preaching his word, and 
not by fomenting schisms which bring 
with them so much disorder and intoler 
rance. There is nothing to preyent th^ 
believer from leading a pious life, even 
.though h^ should preserve m exterior n^r 
tercourse with the impious.^ 

s Zuinglii Op. 1. c. 



^28 

Grebel and Maiitz did not content 
themselves with this first attempt; know- 
ing that Zwingle had formerly blamed in- 
fant baptism, they proposed to him the 
doctrine of Miintzer as conformable to his 
own ideas; but their efforts were again 
unsuccessful. Zwingle replied, that a more 
mature examination had led him to abandon 
his former opinion ; and in several succeed- 
ing interviews, he fully acquainted them 
with his doctrine respecting baptism; of 
which the following is a summary.'' 

" Jesus Christ instituted baptism, but 
neither he nor his apostles have expressly 
directed the age at which it ought to be 
administered. It is therefore permitted to 
each church to order in this respect what 
it shall think most adapted to general edi- 
fication. Judging from the Jewish cere- 
monies, which certainly had a great in- 
fluence upon those of the early christians, 
we may conjecture, that in the primitive 
church children were baptized at the mo* 
ment of their birth. That some sectaries 
of our days have rejected this custom, is 

J» Bull. Schw. Chr. T. iii. P. 



229 

owing to their having formed too high an 
idea of the efficacy of the rite. If indeed, 
the water of baptism had the power of ef- 
facing sins, it would be absurd to baptize 
children who have as yet committed none; 
but how can it be beUeved that an exterior 
ablution can purify the soul? Baptism is a 
ceremony by which a man engages to be- 
come a disciple pf Christ, and to observe 
all his precepts.' 

*' Under this view of it, it would seem 
that the rite ought to be deferred till the 
young christian is of a fit age to contract 
an engagement; but important reasons op- 
pose this delay. If the custom of bap- 
tising none but adults were to be intro^ 

^ Zwingle did not attribute to baptism th^ power of 
purifying the christian from the stain of original sin j nor 
did he beheve that a child dying before baptism could 
not be saved. As to original sin, Zwingle regarded it as 
a disposition to do ill, not as actual sin ; and he did not 
think that it could bring upon man eternal damnation. 
He compared human nature after the fall of Adam, to a 
vine struck by the hail, which has lost a great part of its 
natural vigour j or to a plant transported from, a southern 
to a northern climate, where it will have no longer the 
same vegetative force. Zuinglii O, T. ii, f. 89. 



230 

dnced, negligent parents would omit giving 
religious instruction to their children, and 
would think themselves justified by alleg- 
ing that they did hot know whether, when 
their children were arrived at years of dis- 
cretion, they would embrace Christianity 
or not. The young people themselves 
would reject all exhortations founded on 
religion, under pretext that it is still at 
their own choice whether to become chris- 
tians. Baptism ought to be considered as 
a promise made by parents to educate their 
children in the christian faith, and to in- 
struct them in the truths of the gospel. 
By thus possessing itself of children from 
their cradles, the church binds them by a 
number of invisible threads, and prevents 
them from ever afterwards deserting her 
bosom. On the whole, this question is 
not of great importance, and those are not 
to be justified who make it a source of di^ 
visions in society.''" 

Opinions so moderate must necessarily 
have displeased the anabaptists; and accord- 

^ Zuinglii Op. T. ii. f. 56. et seq. Zuinglii et OecQ- 
lampad. Epist. f. 32. 83. 



£31 

ingly the conferences between the reformer 
and their leaders broke off without having 
produced any approach to an union. The 
latter however promised Zwingle to take 
no step which might trouble the church, 
and he engaged, on his side, not to attack 
their doctrine in pubhc. Notwithstanding 
this mutual promise, it appeared soon after 
that the Brethren, (so the anabaptists called 
themselves) had been baptizing several 
adults both in the town and neighbourhood. 
Zwingle being thus released from his eii* 
gagement, broke silence, and publicly cen^ 
isured their conduct. The Brethren had 
already gained many friends, and when they 
learned that Zwingle had declared against 
them, they entered the town in crowds, 
girded with ropes and branches of willow, 
and fantastically arrayed; and in this state 
they ran through the streets, casting out 
reproaches against theOld Dragon, by which 
n^me they designated the reformer, exhort- 
ing the people to repentance, and threaten- 
ing the town with approaching destruction 
if it were not quickly converted.^ 

* Zuinglii et Oecol. Epist. £ 83. 



2SS 

The sudden appearance and the crie§ 
of these fanatics caused a general alarm, 
and Zwingle had great trouble to appease 
the commotion that they had excited. In 
order to prevent such scenes in future, the 
council recurred to its ordinary resource; 
it ordered a public colloquy between 
Zwingle and the heads of the anabaptists ; 
but what could a colloquy eifect upon men 
inaccessible to reason, who gave themselves 
out for persons inspired? Their opinions 
spread daily more and more. At Zurich 
the authority of Zwingle restrained the 
sectaries; but in the country, where few of 
the pastors were able tq make head against 
them, their partisans multiplied rapidly. 
The chiefs of the sect went into all the 
villages; they somethnes preached in the 
houses of the brethren, sometimes in woods 
and solitary places. The mysteriousness 
of these assemblies prepared the imagination 
to be affected; and the vehement dis- 
courses of the new missionaries completed 
the derangement of men's understandings. 
Scarcely had they ceased to speak, when all 
present with loud cries demanded the true 



SS3 

baptism, as a pledge of their admission into 
the spotless Church ; and tliey declared that 
this ceremony filled them with an ineffable 
feeling of beatitude. Fathers of families 
quitted their wives and children to go and 
preach the doctrines of the anabaptists; 
wives separated themselves from their hus- 
bands, under pretext that they should en- 
danger their eternal welfare by continuing 
to live with infidels. They sometimes fell 
into convulsions, and would prophesy on 
waking from an ecstatic slumber."" These 
scenes were most commonly only ridiculous,, 
but they sometimes terminated in a tragical 
catastrophe. One example will suffice to 
show how far the blindness of these unhappy 
men proceeded. In the neighbourhood of 
St. Gall, where the sect was very numerous, 
a rich peasant assembled the brethren on 
Shrove-Tuesday^ and gaye them an enter- 
tainment. At the end of the repast, one 
of his sons fell into an ecstasy, and remained 
a long time stretched upon the ground with 
convulsive motions ; suddenly he arose, an^ 
ordered some ox-gall to be brought him, 

^ Octii. Annales Anab, ad annum 1535.. 



234 

which he obliged his brother to drink, say- 
ing to him in a solemn tone ; " Think that 
the death thou art to suffer is bitter ! " He 
then commanded him to kneel, seized a 
knife, and plunged it into his bosom, with- 
out any attempt on the part of those present 
to prevent him. He then rushed out of 
the house, crying out that the day of the 
Lord was come." The fanatical assassin 
was arrested, and suffered the punishment 
due to his crime; but the brethren re^ 
garded him as a martyr who had only ac- 
complished the will of God. 

Opinions capable of leading to such 
excesses, demanded coercive measures on 
the part of government, which were be- 
come the more necessary, as, in consequence 
of these fanatical ideas, symptoms of revolt 
began to manifest themselves among the 
peasantry. The sectaries, when summoned 
to give evidence in civil or criminal cases, 
refused to take the customary oath; they 
respected neither the judgments of tri- 
bunals, nar the orders of government; and 

n Bull. Schw, Chr. T. iii. W. Zuinglii et Oecol, 
Epist. f. 91. 



235 

to all the decrees of the sovereign, and all 
the exhortations of the pastors, they replied, 
that God was to be obeyed rather than men. 
The senate would thenceforth have treated 
them with the rigour they deserved, as 
rebels to lawful authority, had not Zwingle 
desired that gentle means should be em- 
ployed before recourse was had to severity. 
He persisted in regarding them as misguided 
men, who did not foresee the fatal conse- 
quences of their false systems; and he was 
loath to renounce the hope of bringing them 
back by reason. The senate, at his en- 
treaty, ordered a second public conference 
with the anabaptists. Some of them yielded 
to the representations of Zwingle ; but by 
retracting, they lost all credit with their 
party, and all power of repressing its ex- 
travagances. The senate then forbade 
them to baptise adults under the penalty 
of a mark of silver ; but they paid no re- 
gard to this prohibition. Twenty of the 
brethren were arrested and committed to 
close confinement; they found means to 
escape, and circulated the report that an 



^36 

angel had opened the doors of their prison,** 
This imposture produced the effect that 
was expected: the marvellous possesses a 
secret charm, and ignorance and credulity 
always attach themselves to the most absurd 
reports. It was besides extremely difficult 
to open the eyes of the deluded peasantry, 
because the brethren recommended it to 
their disciples never to attend the discourses 
of the reformed ministers, and even to 
avoid all communication with those without. 
By these precautions they rendered them- 
selves masters of the minds of their pro- 
selytes, and prevented any possibility of 
undeceiving them; and thus the evil aug- 
mented day by day. The fines imposed on 
the anabaptists were eluded under various 
pretexts, or occasioned violent complaints. 
The brethren exclaimed against the 
punishment of men whose only crime con- 
sisted in obeying the mice of God. Most 
of their leaders had been imprisoned more 
than once, and had recovered their liberty 
by promising never more to re-baptise; but 

? Zuinglii Op. T. ik I 68. 



no sooner were they delivered from their 
bonds, than they violated their promises, 
pretending to be urged by the Spirit, 
Their obstinacy at length wearied out the 
patience of the senate; and it forbade 
them, under pain of death, to rebaptise their 
proselytes, hoping that so severe a menace 
would at length put a stop to their disorders. 
This hope was again deceived. Either 
from confidence in supernatural protection^ 
or a fanatical contempt of death, the ana- 
baptist preachers continued to act just as 
before. Mantz, being discharged from 
confinement a few days after this last 
decree, no sooner saw himself at liberty 
than he forgot all his engagements. He 
was informed against, and again arrested. 
When brought before his judges he boldly 
confessed his crime; protested that he 
would act in the same manner in future 
without regard to the orders of the magis- 
trates, and declared his resolution to found 
a separate church. This formal disobedi- 
ence, which indicated the intention of ex- 
citing a general rising, appeared to the 
senate deserving of capital punishment, 



238 

and Mmtz was condemned to be drowned.'* 
He underwent his sentence with a courage 
which gained him ^ place in the anabaptist 
martyrology* Ihe execution of Mantz, 
the death of G rebel, which took place about 
the same tim.e, and the banishment of 
several other brethren* cooled the fervour 
of the sect* The preaching and writing of 
Zwingle c^-lmed the fermentation produced 
by the conduct of these fanatics, and con- 
verted a great number of their partisans : 
the rest, being deprived of their leaders, 
gave up the idea of forming a separate 
church; they ceased to make proselytes, 
and were content with giving themselves 
up in secret to the practices of an extra- 
vagant devotion, in which no one attempted 
to disturb them. Their opinions too be- 
came mitigated by degrees, and lost their 
antisocial and seditious tendencies*** 

Should these sectaries be considered 

P Fuessli Beytr. zur Ref. Gescli. der. Schweitz. T. iv. 
p. 259. 

•I V. Zuinglii et Oecol. Epist. L. iii.— Ottii Annal. 
Anab. — Bull. adv. Anab.— -Zumgli. Op. T. ii. f. 56. 
et seq. 



Q39 

only in the light of men whose system was 
condemned by the established church, the 
sentence pronounced against them would 
appear dictated by an intolerance so much 
the more odious, as the reformed were 
continually claiming liberty of conscience 
for themselves. Fanaticism alone employs 
imprisonment and legal penalties to convince 
its adversaries; true piety is a stranger to 
violence; it compassionates him who is in 
^rror; endeavours to enlighten him, and if 
it does not succeed, leaves to time the care 
of bringing him back from his wanderings^ 
There are however circumstances in which 
ilffdulgence is no longer allowable. When 
a sect professes doctrines that endanger the 
tranquillity of the state, government ought 
to employ, the most efficacious means to 
arrest its progress ; and this was what the 
council of Zurich found itself under the 
necessity of doing. The anabaptists dis- 
played on all occasions an insulting con- 
tempt for its orders; they preached the 
community of goods; they publicly taught 
that there was no need either of laws or of 
magistrates; that a christian ought never 



to take arms for the defence of his eonntry, 
and ought to pay neither tax nor impost: 
opinions tending to stir up subjects against 
their lawful sovereign, and to dissolve all 
social ties. Ever since this sect had arisen, 
a spirit of insubordination and revolt had 
every Avhere manifested itself. Measures 
of gentleness were exhausted, and it was 
necessary to treat the anabaptists with 
rigour, in order to prevent them from pre- 
cipitating the state into all the horrors of 
anarchy. As for Zwingle, neither the in- 
vectives nor the calumnies of these sectaries 
rendered him unfaithful to his principles 
of tolerance : he never incited any act of 
persecution^ or took part in the judgments 
pronounced against them, though he could 
not but feel that the preservation of public 
tranquillity had rendered some degree of 
severity necessary. 

During the time that these troublesr 
were excited by the anabaptists, a project 
which threatened the safety of the Swiss 
reformer was silently concerted. 

Ever since the first colloquy held at 
Zurich, the bishop of Constance, or rather 



^41 

Faber, his grand vicar, had been constantly 
meditating the means of putting a stop to 
the progress made by the opinions of 
Zwingle, at Zurich, Bern, Basil, SchafF- 
haussen, Appenzel, and St. Gall. Expe- 
rience had already proved, that bishops' 
charges were far too feeble a weapon ; and 
it was feared, that to oppose the writings 
of Zwingle by others in favour of the 
Romish church, would be to embark in a 
contest the more dangerous, as the reform- 
ers surpassed their adversaries in learning 
and talents. No success could be hoped 
either from persuasion or threats, as long 
as it was Zwingle upon whom they were 
to be exerted, for his firmness was well 
known. In order to crush the reformed 
party, it was therefore necessary to deprive 
it of this head, who alone gave it vigour, 
and it was to this expedient that Faber 
had recourse. The point was to induce 
Zwingle to leave Zurich; once out of the 
territory of that state, it would be easy to 
seize his person, and make him undergo 
the same fate which had already been expe- 
rienced by several of his partisans. It was 

R 



hoped that his condemnation and death 
would strike terror into all his adherents, 
and dispose them to return within the pale 
of the church. The expedient employed 
by Faber to attain this end, was to induce 
the catholic cantons to order a public con- 
ference in some town of Switzerland, be- 
tween their theologians and the reformer. 
He imparted his plan to Doctor Eckius, 
chancellor of the university of Ingolstadt, 
who had acquired great reputation by com- 
bating the opinions of Luther/ and it was 
agreed that Eckius should take the first 
steps. Consequently, in the month of 
August, 1524, this theologian addressed a 
letter to the cantons, filled with invectives 
against Zwingle, to whom he gave the 
names of " a rebel, a heretic, and a per- 
verter of scripture." ' He offered to con- 
vince him publicly of his errors, if the 
Cantons would furnish him with the op- 
portunity, and to submit himself to the 
decision of the judges named by them. 
The Cantons shewed a great repugnance 

■■ Mosh. Eccl. Hist. B. iv^. 
= Bull. Schw. Chr.T. iii. R. 



243 

to accede to this request; the event of the 
two conferences at Zurich had proved to 
them that these assembUes only served to 
spread still further the poison of the new doc- 
trine, and theological disputes appeared to 
them good for nothing but to puzzle men's 
heads. "It belonged," they said^ "to 
councils or Popes to legislate in these 
matters, and not to people accustomed to 
handle the sword or the plough." Eckius 
and Faber however, who had the clergy on 
their side, were so persevering in their so- 
licitations, that at length, in the month of 
April, 1526, in a diet assembled at Einsie- 
deln, the Cantons, with the exception of 
Zurich, fixed upon the town of Baden in 
Argovia, as the place for an interview be- 
tween Eckius and Zwingle. That no 
doubt might remain as to their intentions, 
the Cantons, in a public manisfesto, pro- 
tested their inviolable attachment to the 
Apostolic and Romish Church, and their 
horror of all innovation. They declared 
that they did not arrogate to themselves 
the right of deciding in matters of reli- 
gion, and that if they consented to the 
r2 



M4 

conference proposed by the chancellor 
Eckius, it was merely to impose silence on 
Zwingle and his partisans, and to bring- 
back into the fold, the sheep which had 
been led astray by the teaching and writ- 
ings of Luther and Zwingle.' 

In consequence of this decision, the 
diet demanded of the senate of Zurich, to 
send Zwingle to Baden; but this body re- 
fused compliance. A resolution so oppo- 
site to the conduct that its allies had hi- 
therto observed, and the principles which 
they had manifested on all occasions, ap- 
peared to the senate to conceal some snare. 

The appellation of heretic given to 
Zwingle in the manifesto of the Cantons^ 
proved that they regarded the question as 
already decided; the town of Baden, ap- 
pointed as the place of meeting, could not 
guarantee the personal safety of Zwingle, 
since it depended on the Cantons which 
had caused his books and his effigy to be 
burned, and ordered him to be arrested if 
ever he entered their territory; the safe 
conduct even, which was sent to the re- 

^ Bull. Scliw. Chr. T. iii. X. 



S45 

foQ-ner, was conceived in terms too equi- 
vocal not to excite uneasiness. All these 
reasons determined the senate to declare 
to the Cantons that it would not permit 
Zwingle to leave Zurich. It protested, at 
the same time, against the resolutions that 
might be taken at Baden, but offered 
Eckius full security, if he would come and 
confer with the reformer at Zurich." This 
offer was rejected, and the conference of 
Baden took place without the presence of 
Zwingle. The Cantons invited the famous 
Erasmus of Rotterdam, but he refused to 
attend. This celebrated man had greatl}^ 
contributed to diffuse among his contem- 
poraries, just and sound notions of religion. 
Being endowed with a keen, penetrating, 
and satirical genius, he employed the wea- 
pon of ridicule to combat ignorance, super- 
stition, and hypocrisy; and never did they 
encounter a more formidable foe. He pos- 
sessed vast erudition, but he wanted that 
generous enthusiasm which makes a man 
prefer the interests of truth to all the com- 
forts of life. His writings contain the 

« Bull. Schw. Chr. T. iii. Y, 



246 

germs of the doctrine of Luther aiicl 
Zwingle; and before they appeared, h6 
had insisted on the necessity of a reform. 
He afterwards maintained a friendly con^ 
nection with the reformers, and often be- 
stowed great praises upon them ; but the 
first contests that arose between Luther 
and the pope, caused him to change his 
language. He then foresaw the dangers 
to which the reformers weie about to ex- 
pose themselves, and wished to break off 
all connection with them, that he might 
not be involved in the same proscription. 
" I have never felt in myself the courage 
to die for the truth," says he in a letter to 
a friend ; '' the fortitude to suffer martyr- 
dom is not given to all men; and if I had 
been put to the trial, I am afraid I should 
have done like St. Peter." "" But, whether 
he did not choose to act against his own 
conviction, or whether he expected to 
find in Luther and Zwingle antagonists too 
formidable, he avoided writing against 
them as much as he possibly could; still 
less would he compromise his reputation 

^ Jortin's Life of Erasmus, vol. i. p. 273. 



247 

and his peace, in a personal contest, in. 
which, the hahit of speaking in pubhc 
would give advantages to his adversaries, 
that were wanting to him. 

The cause of the reformers was de- 
fended at Baden principally by John Oeco- 
lampadius and Berchtold Haller; one a 
preacher at Basil, the other at Bern. Hal- 
ler had early embraced the opinions of 
Zwingle, and endeavoured to procure their 
adoption at Bern, The opposition that he 
met with, obliged him to act with circum- 
spection, and not to declare himself too 
openly in favour of the reformer of Zurich. 
He therefore only appeared at Baden to 
submit to the assembly his doubts and ob- 
jections, and avoided committing himself.^ 
Oecolampadius was superior to Haller in 
erudition, and was one of the principal 
supports of the reformation. He was born 
in the duchy of Wirtemberg, and being 
destined to letters from his childhood, had 
studied law at Bologna, and theology at 
Heidelberg. The reputation that he had 

y M. Adami Vitae Theolog. Germ. p. 60, 



^48 

acquired by his talents and learning, in- 
duced the Elector Palatine to intrust him 
with the education of his son ; but Oeco- 
lampadius being soon disgusted with the 
court, where he could not devote himself 
to his passion for study, left it, and entered 
into a convent at Augsburgh. A work 
which he composed to demonstrate the ill 
effects of auricular confession, made him 
many enemies, and being compelled to 
quit his convent, he retired to Basil, where 
he became intimate with Erasmus. It was 
at this period of his life, that he was ac- 
quainted with Zwingle: their conformity 
of opinions and disposition, soon united 
them in the most intimate friendship. 
They reciprocally communicated all their 
plans, and encouraged and consoled each 
other when their intentions were mistaken 
or calumniated, and death alone dissolved 
the bond by which they were connected. 
Oecolampadius had less vivacity and 
warmth than Zwingle, but was inferior 
to him neither in courage nor in firmness. 
His learned works rendered great service 



249 

to the reformation ; and it was he who by 
force of perseverance and moderation ren- 
dered it triumphant at Basil/ 

Oecolampadius, being less an object of 
hatred to the cathohc Cantons than 
Zwingle, repaired to the conference at 
Baden; he even blamed his friend for not 
following his example; but as soon as he 
arrived, he changed his opinion, perceiving 
that the life of Zwingle would there have 
been exposed without any advantage to 
his cause. '^ I thank God," he writes, 
that you are not here. The turn that mat- 
ters take, makes me clearly perceive that 
had you been here, we should neither of 
us have escaped the stake." ^ 

The absence of Zwingle disconcerted 
the projects of his enemies: they pro- 
ceeded however to the discussion of the 
theses proposed. Oecolampadius distin- 
guished himself by his mildness, his intre- 
pidity, and his erudition; but he was 
unable to influence the decision previously 
taken. The assembly, being entirely go- 

== M. Adami Vitae Theolog. Germ. p. 45. et seq. 
^ Pellicani vita M. S. 



250 

verned by Eckius, pronounced an excom- 
munication against Zwingle and his ad- 
herents, and particularly required of the 
town of Basil to deprive Oecolampadius 
of his office of pastor, and to banish him. 
It also strictly prohibited the sale of the 
books of Zwingle and Luther, and forbade 
all change in worship or doctrine.^ 

These decisions, however, were not 
adopted throughout all Switzerland: the 
Cantons of Bern, Glaris, Basil, SchafF- 
haussen and Appenzel, refused to admit 
them. Oecolampadius on his return to 
Basil was received with open arms, and 
the council continued him in his office. 
At Bern, Haller also continued the exercise 
of his functions, notwithstanding the ex- 
communication lanced against him. Thus, 
the efforts of the assembly of Baden, far 
from weakening the party of the reformer, 
rather gave it fresh strength. 

It was in Bern especially that the re- 
formation obtained numerous partisans at 
this period.'' Towards the end of the year 

b Bull. Schw. Chr. T. iii. Y.~Hott. Helv. Kirch. 
T. iii. p. 32. 

" Zuing. et Oecol. Epist. f. I89. 



^5\ 

159.7, several municipalities of this Canton 
addressed the senate for the abolition of 
the mass, and the introduction of the wor- 
ship established at Zurich. Their demand 
was variously received, for the reformation 
had both friends and foes in that body. 
The first prevailed : but before it decided, 
the senate was desirous of knowino; the 
opinions of the ecclesiastics of Bern, and 
inquiring whether the doctrine of Zwingle 
appeared to them consonant with scripture. 
The clergy of that Canton were therefore 
convened, as well as those of all the other 
states of the Helvetic League, and the 
bishops of Lausanne, Basil, Constance, and 
Sion in the Valais. This convocation, and 
especially the contents of the theses to be 
proposed to the examination of the meet- 
ing, was displeasing to the Cantons of 
Lucern, Uri, Schweitz, and Unterwalden, 
They presented remonstrances to the senate 
of Bern, for the purpose of diverting them 
from their design; but the tone of menace 
v/hich was distinguishable amid their friend- 
ly expressions, offended the Bernese, and 
confirmed them in their resolution. The 



25£ 

Cantons were not prepared for so much firm- 
ness; and not being able to prevent the 
convocation from taking place, they at 
last refused to all who wished to attend it 
a passage through their territory. Such 
manifest ill-will excited great displeasure 
among the reformed, which was augmented 
by the pamphlets daily published by the 
catholics for the purpose of defaming the 
reformers/ 

In the meantime, preparations were 
making at Bern to give the assembly the 
greatest possible solemnity. Haller was 
earnestly desirous of the presence of 
Zwingle: he thus writes to him — " iVll 
pious minds hope that you will come to 
support us. You are aware how much the 
cause of the reformation would gain in 
Switzerland should our canton embrace it, 
and how much it would lose by our failure. 
But 1 know that you have too warmly at 
heart the glory of God, the welfare of the 
republic of Bern, and that of all Switzer- 
land, to neglect any thing that may be of 
service to them; and I do not doubt that 

d Bull. Schw. Chr. T. iii. B. B. 



255 

you will come and confound our enemies. 
1 am too weak for so great a burden; show 
me how to acquit myself of the task im- 
posed upon me, or rather fulfil it yourself. 
— Hasten to give me a favourable answer, 
for all our trust is in you." 

Zwingle was by no means disposed to 
let slip an opportunity of unfolding his 
doctrine before a numerous auditory which 
appeared to be disposed in his favour. It 
wasbesides very important for consolidating 
the reform in Switzerland to gain oyer the 
Bernese. Several Cantons appeared desir- 
ous of reestablishing the catholic religion 
by force of arms, and the town of Zurich 
was not in a condition by herself to resist 
them; but if Bern united with her, she 
would have no cause to fear that the ca- 
tholic Swiss should prescribe terms to 
their protestant fellow citizens. Zwingle 
therefore repaired to Bern, accompanied 
by several Swiss and German theologians, 
who all assembled at Zurich towards the 
end of the year 1527. An escort, which 
was judged necessary to protect them from 
insult, conducted them to the place of theit 



g54 

destination. Zwingle, Oecolampadius, Pel- 
lican, Collinus, and Bullinger, were the 
principal Swiss theologians who attended 
the meeting: of the strangers, we shall 
only name, Wolfgang Capito, and Martin 
Bucer, both preachers at Strasburg, Capito 
had early acquired a distinguished reputa- 
tion by his talents, and the extent of his 
knowledge. The archbishop of Mentz, 
having heard of his merit, named him his 
chancellor in 15£0, and employed him in 
several important embassies. Before he 
entered the service of this prince, Capito 
was already connected with Zwingle and 
Luther, whose opinions he shared.'' He 
had only accepted the office of chancellor 
with the design of inspiring the chief of the 
German clergy with the desire of himself 
directing the reform and bringing it about 
without disturbance. As long as he re- 
tained any hope of success, he prevailed 
with Luther not to exasperate the princes 
of the church by his vehemence, who 
might perhaps be gained over by more 
;noderate language ; but when he saw that 

^ Hott. H. E. T. vi. p. 206, 



9,55 

interest and ambition prevailed with the 
Archbishop over more noble motives, he re- 
nounced the honours which he already pos- 
sessed, and those that he might in future ex- 
pect; and quitting the court, he retired to 
Strasburg, where he exercised till the end of 
his life the humble functions of a pastor/ 

Martin Bucer was the most pacific of 
all the reformers; he was full of modera- 
tion in discussion, listened with patience 
to the objections of his adversaries, and 
refuted them with mildness. His con- 
ciliating disposition contributed greatly to 
procure the adoption of the reformation 
at Strasburg, and its diffusion in France. 

As soon as Zwingle arrived at Bern, the 
convocation began its sittings, at which 
the great council assisted in a body. The 
ten theses composed by Haller, containing 
the essential points of Zwingle's doctrine, 
were successively discussed. Zwingle, 
Oecolampadius, Capito, Bucer, and Haller 
defended them alternately with so much 
success, that after eighteen sittings, a great 
majority of the clergy of Bern signed the 

^ M.Adam V T. G. p. S8. 



256 

theses, declaring that they judged them 
consonant with the sacred books. The 
presidents of the assembly then exhorted 
the senate to take such measures for the 
interest of religion as it should deem most 
useful. During the time of the conference, 
the reformed clergy preached by turns in 
the cathedral of Bern; and from the same 
pulpit whence ten years before Samson the 
Franciscan had abused the credulity of the 
people, Zwingie worked a conversion which 
produced a great effect. Just as he was 
mounting the pulpit, a priest was preparing 
to say mass at the neighbouring altar. The 
desire of hearing the famous heretic led 
him to suspend the celebration of the office 
and to mingle with the throng of auditors^ 
Zwingie in his sermon unfolded his opinion 
on the eucharist with so much eloquence, 
that he subverted and changed all the ideas 
of the priest, who instantly, in sight of 
the assembled people, laid down his sacer- 
dotal ornaments on the altar at which he 
was to have officiated, and embraced the 
reformation.^ 

g Haltmey p. 451. 



257 

The conference at Bern was very ser- 
viceable to the cause of reform, from the 
splendour reflected on it by the union of so 
many celebrated men. It served at the 
same time to form a more intimate con- 
nection between the reformers dispersed in 
different parts of Switzerland; they all re- 
garded Zwingle as their head, and chief 
support* and the authority that they 
granted to him silently contributed to 
maintain harmony among themselves. 

As soon as the foreign theologians had 
quitted Bern, the grand council began to 
deliberate on the part to be taken. A few 
days after, it declared the bishops of Lau- 
sanne, Basil, Sion, and Constance, to be 
divested of their spiritual rights throughout 
its territory; it ordered the preachers of 
the Canton to teach nothing contrary to 
the theses approved by the assembly of the 
clergy; permitted priests to marry, and re- 
ligious to leave their convents ; and disposed 
respecting the employment of pious foun- 
dations and the revenues of monasteries. 
The town adopted the reformed worship, 
and in the space of four months all the 



258 

municipalities of the Canton followed the 
example. 

The introduction of the reformation at 
Bern rendered the catholics apprehensive 
that it would overspread all the rest of Swit- 
zerland. To arrest its progress, the Can- 
tons most attached to the faith of their 
fathers, Lucern, Uri, Schweitz, Unter- 
w^alden and Zug, which we shall henceforth 
call the five Cantons, engaged themselves 
by oath to prohibit, under severe penalties, 
the preaching of the doctrine of Luther 
and Zwingle. This resolution in no respect 
trenched upon the rights of their allies; 
but the hatred that it announced towards 
the reformation, alarmed Zurich and Bern. 
These two towns thought it necessary to 
unite themselves more closely than ever,- 
and they concluded an alliance of which 
these were the principal articles. The two 
towns guarantee each others' possessions, 
and promise mutual assistance against all 
who would compel them to restore the 
Romish religion. They agree to maintain 
liberty of conscience in the bailliages go- 
verned in common, and not to suffer the 



Q59 

reformed preachers in them to be impri- 
soned or their partisans persecuted. The 
other Cantons who shall admit the re- 
formation may be admitted to this alliance, 
by which Zurich and Bern do not design to 
derogate from the stipulations of their 
former treaties; their intention not being 
to act on the offensive, or to injure the 
rights of their allies, but only to protect 
themselves from violence. 

The distrust indicated by this treaty 
augmented the misunderstanding already 
existing, and every day brought some new 
grievance. When suspicion once takes 
place between confederate states, the very 
relations which connect them become a 
source of discord; and thus the joint so- 
vereignty exercised by the Cantons over se- 
veral small provinces, produced at this time 
continual subjects of contest. Whole muni- 
cipahties dependant on these provinces, 
desired the abolition of the catholic ccre- 
nionies and the establishment of reformed 
preachers; in others, opinions were divided. 
This diffei'ence of sentiment gave rise to 
s 2 



260 

disputes, to insults, often even to acts of 
violence. The two parties pleaded their 
cause before the tribunal of the bailiffs, who 
administered justice in the name of the 
Confederacy, and who, being zealous de- 
fenders of the faith of their fathers, favoured 
the catholics, and allowed themselves to 
exercise several vexatious acts against 
the reformed. In this situation, the senate 
of Zurich thought itself obliged to under- 
take the defence of the oppressed party. 
At the diet of Baden, in 1528, the deputies 
of Zurich communicated to their colleagues 
the complaints they had received from 
the reformed, and desired that orders should 
be given to the bailiffs to constrain no one 
in respect to religion, and to leave to the 
municipalities the liberty of adopting or 
rejecting the reformation, according to the 
wish of the majority; but they were not 
listened to, and the persecution continued. 
In one of the common baiUiages, a protestant 
preacher was arrested while performing his 
pastoral duties, and conducted to Schweitz, 
where, notwithstanding the intercession of 



261 

several Cantons, he was condemned to the 
stake and executed, for no other crime than 
having preached the doctrine of Zwingle.^ 
This event spread great alarm among 
the reformed in Switzerland, and what 
augmented their uneasiness was a new 
step of the five Cantons: — a negociation 
into which they entered with the brother 
of Charles V., Ferdinand king of Bohemia 
and archduke of Austria, a prince distin- 
guished by his hatred of the protestants. He 
received favourably the propositions of the 
five Cantons, and concluded an alliance with 
them, the object of which was the main- 
tenance of the catholic religion. The con- 
tracting parties agreed that, in case of war, 
king Ferdinand should be put in possession 
of the conquests that should be made be- 
yond the Rhine, and that the five Cantons 
should retain those made in Switzerland/ 
The projects this treaty appeared to indi- 
cate, filled the other members of the con- 
federacy with indignation. In conse- 
quence, they sent a deputation to the five 

h Val. Tschudi Hist. Glar. M. S. 
^ Seckendorf Hist. Luth. ii. p. 94. et seq. 



262 

Cantons, commissioned to represent to 
them, that by leaguing themselves thus 
closely with a foreign power, they were 
compromising the independence of Swit- 
zerland, and instead of an ally, would give 
themselves a master: the deputation was 
to oifer at the same time, the mediation of 
the neutral Cantons, to terminate in an 
amicable manner the differences which had 
arisen on the subject of religion. This 
deputation was every where ill received; 
even the customary honours were not 
shown to it, and it obtained nothing but 
vague and evasive answers, which de- 
stroyed all hope of accommodation. 

Injurious language, pamphlets filled 
with invectives, acts of violence com- 
mitted by private persons, and unrepressed 
by their governments, daily increased the 
animosity between the catholics and the 
reformed.'' They mutually accused each 

^ There were some individuals, however^ in whom 
party spirit had not extinguished the sentiments of gen- 
tleness and indulgence : of which the following example 
will also paint the genuine simplicity of the mountaineers 
of that day. Tschudi;, the pastor of Glaris,>a friend of 



263 

otlier of ambitious views; the alliance of 
the five Cantons with king Ferdinand, on 
one hand, and the protection granted by 
Zurich to all the reformed, on the other, 
gave probability to these accusations. A 
civil war appeared inevitable, and each 
party accused its adversary of being the 
author of it. At Zurich, the troubles of 
Switzerland were attributed to the personal 

Zwingle, seeing his parishioners divided into two invete- 
rate factions, one day mounted the pulpit and said to his 
audience: '^ Your hatreds and quarrels on the subject of 
a religion the essence of which is charity, deeply afflict 
me. Hold fast to the essentials, and torment yourselves 
no more on account of the diiferences which at present 
divide you. Do not desert your pastor ; you know that 
he loves you, and bears you all equally in his heart. Till 
it shall please the Lord to enlighten us, and remove our 
doubts, this will I do 3 I will say mass in the morning 
for those who choose to hear mass, and in the evening 
I will preach for such as prefer a sermon j and the diver- 
sity of our opinions shall not prevent us from loving each 
other. This minister afterwards renounced the Romish 
faith, but he always preserved his tolerant sentiments, of 
which he gave a proof by persuading his fellow-citizens 
to found a hospital where patients of both communions 
were received without distinction, and attended with the 
same care. 



h 



B64i 

enemies of the reformer, who, it was said, 
hated him much less on account of his 
reUgious opinions, than because he opposed 
their ambition and cupidity; Avhile the five 
Cantons believed that Zurich protected 
the reformed throughout Switzerland, for 
no other purpose than to increase its own 
power at the expense of the confederacy. 
These regarded Zwingle as the principal 
instigator of the war. It is certain that he 
made use of all his influence to engage the 
senate of Zurich, not to abandon the re- 
formers to the rage of their persecutors, con- 
ceiving that humanity and justice made it 
his duty to undertake the defence of men 
who, by following his instructions, were 
daily exposed to the loss of property, li.- 
berty, and life itself. Much as he blamed 
^11 wars undertaken from ambitious motives, 
he was equally persuaded of the lawfulness 
pf one, which should have for its end the 
maintenance of right, and the protection 
of the oppressed. 

A dispute between the Cantons of Bern 
and Unterwalden at length caused the 
storm to burst forth which had so long 



a65 

been impending over Switzerland. In the 
valley of Hasli, situated on the confines of 
these two Cantons, the change of worship 
occasioned some disturbance. The inhabit- 
ants refused to submit to the decrees of 
the senate of Bern, and remained deaf to 
the voice of their magistrates. Their 
neighbours of Unterwalden joined them, 
with the intention of defending them 
against the force which was marching 
to reduce the mutineers. At the approach 
of the troops of Bern, however, the in- 
habitants of the valley, finding themselves 
too inferior in numbers, returned to their 
duty, and those of Unterwalden retired 
homewards in haste. Notwithstanding 
this prompt retreat, the senate of Bern 
complained of the assistance given by the 
men of Unterwalden to their rebellious 
subjects; but the government of that Can- 
ton thought itself sufficiently disculpated, 
by declaring that it had had nq share in 
what had taken place ; and refused the satis- 
faction that was demanded. In vain did 
the neutral Cantons attempt to appease 
both parties; the town of Bern protested 



^66 

that its deputies should never again assist 
at a diet where those of Unterwalden were 
present, and that it would not permit the 
new bailiff named by Unterwalden for the 
county of Baden, to take possession of his 
bailiage. The Unterwalders on their part, 
supported by Lucern, Uri, Schweitz, and 
Zug, prepared to settle the grand bailiff in 
his residence, by force of arms. At the 
first news of this design, Zurich, which 
had made common cause with Bern in the 
whole of this dispute, seized all the passes 
by which the troops of the five Can- 
tons could enter Baden, and ordered its 
own to advance towards the borders. At 
the same time, the senate issued a mani- 
festo, setting forth all the grievances of 
Zurich and Bern, and declaring that these 
Cantons were laid under the necessity of 
doing themselves justice by open force; 
that it was not however their intention to 
shed the ])lood of the innocent, but to 
make the real authors of all these troubles 
responsible. The senate accompanied this 
manifesto with a declaration of war, which 
was conveyed to Zug, where the troops of 



^67 

the five Cantons were assembled. Those 
of Zurich received orders to attack the 
next day; and hostihties were about to 
begin, when a deputation from the neutral 
Cantons arrived in haste, to prevent, if 
possible, the effusion of blood. At their 
entreaty, the leaders of the Zurichers con- 
sented to a suspension of arms, during 
Av^hich, the deputies repaired to Zurich, 
where they prevailed on the senate to ac- 
cept their mediation. The Canton of Zu- 
rich at first demanded entire liberty of 
conscience, even in tjie ^ve Cantons, and 
required that these latter should renounce 
for ever all foreign alliances, as well as 
their capitulations with France and Avith 
the Pope; but the mediators represented 
to the council, that this would be giving 
the law to their allies, and endeavouring 
to deprive them of a right which the mem- 
bers of the confederacy had at all times 
possessed. The reproaches of the Canton 
of Bern against the senate of Zurich for 
its precipitation in commencing hostilities, 
disposed it to moderate itsclaims; and the 
five Cantons equally desired a momentary 



268 

reconciliation, either because they v/ere 
not yet sufficiently prepared for war, or 
because their ally, the king of Bohemia, 
being attacked by the Turks, could not 
furnish them with the troops that he had 
promised. They therefore soon came to 
an agreement which secured to each Can- 
ton the power of making what ordinances 
it pleased relative to religion, in its own 
immediate territory. Liberty of conscience 
was granted to the inhabitants of the com- 
mon baihages, and they were authorised to 
reject or adopt the reformation at the will 
of the majority. It was agreed that the 
five Cantons should renounce their alliance 
with king Ferdinand; and not to retard 
the conclusion of the peace, the discussion 
of less important articles was referred to 
the approaching diet, at which the neutral 
Cantons were to arrange them in an ami- 
cable manner. This treaty was signed 
June 25, 1529, at Cappel, a village on the 
frontiers of Zurich and Zug, and the next 
day both armies returned to their own 
homes.5^ During this short campaign, the 

^ Tschudi p. m. 418. 



r 



269 

soldiers, who did not yet partake in the 
animosity of their leaders, resembled bro- 
thers disunited by some transient quarrel, 
but whose former affection is by no means 
extinguished. The advanced posts lived 
in harmony, and often made their meals 
together. Sometimes the soldiers of the 
live Cantons, whose camp was ill provided 
with food, ventured beyond their limits, 
and allowed themselves to be taken pri- 
soners; they were received as friends, and 
sent back loaded with provisions. This 
aifecting union, still subsisting while every 
thing seemed to indicate a war, inspired 
the hope that Switzerland had no serious 
divisions to apprehend; but unfortunately 
this hope was of no long duration. The 
catholics were provoked to see the refor- 
mation protected by the treaty of peace, 
and only awaited a favourable moment to 
resume their former designs; while the 
reformed, abusing their temporary supe- 
riority, excited new discontents, which, 
two years afterwards, brought on a second 
rupture more serious than the first. 

The thread of events now requires us 



270 

to speak of the dispute that arose respect- 
ing the eucharist, between the Swiss and 
the Saxon reformer. To relate their mis- 
understanding, may awaken unpleasant 
ideas in the minds of their admirers; but 
this consideration ought not to restrain the 
biographer of Z wingle. Something would 
be wanting to the portrait of the reformer, 
did we not describe his conduct in this 
difficult situation, when it was his lot to 
oppose a man whom he respected and ad- 
mired, and wished to have for his friend. 
We have already seen that Z<\^ingle's first 
attempts at reform preceded those of 
Luther, or at least took place at the same 
time. Without personal acquaintance, or 
mutual communication, these two men had 
met in their ideas. It was towards the 
end of the year 1519, that one of the first 
works of Luther, his paraphrase on the 
Lord's praj^er, reached Switzerland, when 
it was found so similar to the explanation 
pf the same prayer given by Zwingle, some 
jnonths before, that many persons attri- 
buted it to him, and thought he had chosen 
to conceal his own name unde^* that of 



S71 

Luther. Zwingle rejoiced to see this cele- 
brated theologian directing his efforts 
towards the same end to which all his own 
were tending: he recommended to his 
hearers the reading of the works of Lu- 
ther; but he forbade it to himself, thinking 
that their opinions would have more weight, 
if they both arrived at the same result 
without having communicated their ideas. 
During some years, the two reformers had 
no direct intercourse; but they spoke of 
each other in the most honourable terms. 
When Luther was excommunicated and 
put to the ban of the empire, Zwingle con- 
tinued to testify the highest admiration of 
him ; ^ and at the time when his situation 
appeared completely desperate, he caused 
an asylum to be offered him in Switzer- 
land, and engaged to procure for him the 
protection of his government.™ The 
friendly connection of the two reformers 
subsisted till Zwingle began to manifest 
his opinion on the eucharist He had 
long regarded the doctrine of transubstan- 

1 Zumg. Op. T. ill. f. 38. 
™ Hott. Heiv. Kirch. T. iii. p. 48, 



272 

tiation as contrary to the general tenour of 
evangelical doctrine; he also conceived it 
to be the source of a multitude of false ideas 
and superstitious practices ; but the dogma 
was deeply rooted in the minds of men, 
and served as a basis to the authority en- 
joyed by the clergy; a strong resistance 
was therefore to be expected by any one 
who should dare to attack it. These rea- 
sons prevailed with Zwingle to remain 
silent on this important subject till no doubt 
whatever remained upon his own mind, 
and till he felt himself enabled to reply to 
all objections. 

The defenders of transubstantiation 
quoted in their favour the tradition of 
several centuries, and the very words of 
the institution of the last supper. The first 
argument had not great weight Avith 
Zwingle, who allowed no other authority 
to tradition than what it derived from the 
sacred writings ; it was not so with the 
second, since it was the invariable prin- 
ciple of our reformer to refer himself to 
the decisions of the gospel. The words of 
the institution of the Lord's supper appeared 



^75 

indeed, wllen taken separately, to favour 
the doctrine in question; but Zwingle was 
of opinion that this was a case for the ap- 
phcation of the rule, that scripture must be 
interpreted by itself; that the general te- 
nour of the gospel is to be regarded^ and 
that a dogma is not to be founded on an 
insulated text. The dogma in question was 
repugnant to the testimony of the senses, if 
literally taken; whereas, if taken meta- 
phorically, the text would be found to 
agree with all the rest relative to the same 
subject. Zwingle, when he had once fixed 
his opinion, began to declare it in his ser- 
mons, and in 159.5, he published it with all 
the necessary ilIustrations,in a work entitled^ 
" A commentary on true and false religion." 
He there established, that the outward sym^ 
bols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ 
undergo no supernatural change in the eu- 
charist. Immediately aftervv^ards, Oeco- 
lampadius published at Basil, " An expla- 
nation of the w^ords of the Lord's supper, 
according to ancient authors," His prin- 
cipal object was to prove that the fathers 
of the church favoured the doctrine of 



274 

transubstantiation much less than many 
would wish us to believe. This work 
was written with so much erudition, 
and such persuasive eloquence, that it 
" was sufficient," said Erasmus, " if it were 
possible, and God would permit, to se- 
duce the elect themselves."" As soon as 
Luther became acquainted with this doc-r 
trine, he rose up against it. He had him- 
self renounced the doctrine of transubstan^ 
tiation, and substituted for it an obscure 
and subtile explanation, which held a mid« 
die Avay between the doctrine of the Romish 
Church and that of Zwingk. The im- 
petuous disposition of the Saxon reformer 
rendered him incapable of a calm discussion ; 
and when he had once adopted an idea, the 
truth of it appeared to 'him so apparent, that 
he accused those who refused to adopt it of 
bad faith. He would not read the works 
of Zwingle and Oecolampadius, but de- 
clared their opinion dangerous and sacrile- 
gious. In order to arrest in its commence- 
ment a dispute which might become fatal 
to the reformation, Zwingle addressed 

^ M. Adami Vit. Theol. Germ, p. 59. 



275 

himself directly to Luther, and explainecl 
his doctrine to him in the mildest languagCc 
His frankness only served to provoke a 
vehement reply, which completed the exas- 
peration of both parties, and decided their 
rupture. The Saxons, and the greater part 
of the princes and towns of the north of 
Germany, embraced the opinion of Luther; 
the Swiss and several imperial cities fol-^ 
lowed that of Zwingle. Numerous work§ 
appeared on each side, and kindled animo-= 
sities, the violence of which, ey,eri at the 
present day, is astonishing. 

The catholic party in Germany knew 
how to take advantage of the discord which 
was rising in the verybosomof protestantism, 
The diet of the empire affected to make a 
distinction between the Lutherans and the 
partizans of Zwingle; hoping thus to aug- 
ment their misunderstanding, and after- 
wards to suppress them more easily one 
after the other. The theologians, who 
were too much strangers to political consi- 
derations, did not perceive the snare; but 
it could not escape the penetration of the 
Landgrave of Hesse, one of the most .e|).= 

T % 



Q76 

lightened princes of his time, and a zealous 
protector of the reformed. Being persuaded 
that the safety of the protestants depended 
on their union, he laboured incessantly for 
the reconciliation of their different parties. 
His endeavours not having succeeded, it 
occurred to him that an intervie^y between 
Luther and Zwingle would be the surest 
road to a solid peace. He therefore invited 
them both, in the year 1529, to repair with 
some friends of their own choice, to his tow^n 
of Marpurg. Zwingle consented without 
hesitation, and set out in the month of Sep- 
tember, accompanied by Rodolph Collinus, 
Bucer, Hedio, and Oecolampadius. Luther 
brought on his part Melancthon, Justug 
Jonas, Agricola, and Brentius. 

Luther and Zwingle had at first private 
conversations, one with Oecolampadius, the 
other with Melancthon, and the four theo- 
logians agreed on all points except that of 
the eucharist. They afterwards discussed 
this subject in presence of several protes- 
tant princes, and the professors of the aca- 
demy of Marpurg, but could arrive at no 
satisfactory conclusion. Luther would 



£77 

listen to no reasoning, but continued to 
repeat, that he should remain in his own 
opinion, and would adhere to the literal 
meaning of scripture." His adversaries 
were not discouraged; they entered into 
a particular justification of their doctrine, 
and made a great impression on their au- 
dience. Perhaps some means of conci- 
liation might have been found, if it had 
been possible to prolong these conferences; 
but the Landgrave was obliged to put an 
end to them on account of a contagious 
disorder which broke out at Marpurg. 
Before they parted, the Swiss and German 
theologians drew up in haste fourteen ar- 
ticles containing the essential doctrines of 
Christianity, which they signed by common 
consent. As to the real presence in the 
'eucharist, it was said, that the difference 
between the Swiss and Germans ought not 
to interrupt their harmony, nor prevent 
them from exercising christian charity 
towards each other, as much as the conscience 
of each would permit. In order to seal the 
reconciliation of the two parties, the Land- 
grave required from Luther and Zwingle a 

" Zuing;]. ad Vad. 



278 

declaration that they regarded each other 
as brothers. Zwmgle readily consented; 
but all that could be obtained from Luther 
was a promise that he Avould moderate his 
expressions for the future, in speaking of 
the Swiss.° 

Zwingle, a faithful observer of his en- 
gagementSj restrained his friends by his au- 
thority, and disarmed his enemies by his 
mildness : after his deaths the unhappy dis- 
pute that he had succeeded in composing, 
revived with fresh violence. 

The earnestness shown by Zwingle for 
an union with the Lutherans, does equal 
honour to his heart and his head. He was 
not one of those despotical men who are 
irritated by contradiction, and would pre- 
scribe laws to thought. Provided a small 
number of principles were agreed upon, he 
thought every one ought to be left to his 
own individual manner of thinking. To 
exact a perfect conformity even in the 
smallest particulars was, he said, giving rise 
to perpetual disputes. He never wished to 
erect his own ideas into articles of faith | 

° Fuessli Beytr. zu der Ref. Gesch. der Schweita. 
T. iii. p. 150.— M. Adami Vitae Theol. Germ. p. 31. 



^79 

and knowing of what contention creeds 
had often been the cause, he was desirous 
that nothing more should be required of 
the ministers of the word of God, than a 
promise to conform in their teaching to the 
clear and precise precepts of the gospel. 
If the partisans of the reformation had 
afterwards followed the same principle, 
they would not have drawn upon them- 
selves the just reproach of having more 
than once substituted the authority of a 
synod, or that of the reformers, to the au- 
thority of the see of Rome and the councils. 
Unfortunately the pride of man disposes 
him to deliver his own opinions as infal- 
lible truths ; and there have been some pro- 
testants who have not escaped this snare; 
though nothing is more contrary to the 
true spirit of prostestantism, than to check 
the career of the human faculties, to fetter 
men's consciences, and to establish judges 
in matters of religion. 

The cares required in the defence of the 
reformation ao;ainst the danglers that threat- 
ened it from without, did not pre ventZ win gle 
from labouring to strengthen it in his own 



280 

country. He instructed his flock daily 
•from the pulpit; and possessing in the 
highest degree the art of speaking to the 
comprehension of every one, he was ahle to 
give to his sermons an ever new attraction. 
Full of force and vehemence when he at- 
tacked vice, of gentleness and persuasion 
when he endeavoured to reclaim men to 
virtue, he disdained that kind of eloquence 
which merely serves to set off the orator, 
and dwelt only upon arguments adapted to 
convince and move.'' He was still more 
admirable in his private conversations. 
With affecting condescension he brought 
himself down to a level with the most 
humble capacities, and tranquillized such 
as came to confide to him their doubts, and 
disclose the agitation of their minds. He 
diverted such persons from speculative sub- 
jects above their reach, and succeeded in re- 
storing them to serenity ; but when he had 
to do with an inquirer capable of thoroughly 
investigating a question, he followed him 
step by step in his reasonings; showed him 
where he had quitted the right road, and 

P Bull. Schw. Chr. T. iii. B. B, 



281 

pointed out the beacons which might di- 
rect him in future. What particularly in- 
clined all hearts to open themselves to 
him, and gave weight to his words, was 
the sweetness of his disposition, his active 
benevolence, and the irreproachable purity 
of his morals. His house was the asylum 
of all the unfortunate, and he employed 
his small income, his credit, his connec- 
tions, his ascendency, in rendering service 
to those who had need of him. His friends 
sometimes reproached him with giving 
way too much to his natural benevolence, 
but they could never persuade him to 
exercise it with more circumspection. 

They who witnessed the patience with 
which Zwingle listened to all those who 
came to him in search of instruction, as- 
sistance, or consolation, might have thought 
that he had no other functions to fulfil 
than those of his pastoral office; but oc- 
cupations of a very different nature claimed 
an equal portion of his time. In all diffi- 
cult conjunctures the council summoned 
him to its sittings; and such was the opi~ 
ijion entertained of his wisdom, his pen^s 



282 

ttation, and his knowledge^ that magis- 
trates and statesmen, who had grown old 
in office, came to ask advice of a simple 
theologian, whom his occupations and ha- 
bitual studies seemed to render a stranger to 
politics. He was also the person employed 
by the government to draw up several new 
laws, which had been rendered necessary 
by the reformation. Of this number, were 
such as related to ecclesiastical discipline, 
those which regulated the course to be 
followed in causes which were formerly 
within the cognizance of the episcopal 
chambers, and sumptuary laws. In the 
midst of these different occupations, Zwin- 
gie also kept up an extensive correspond- 
ence with the celebrated men of his time, 
and composed a great number of works, 
in which he treated on the most important 
questions of morals and theology,"^ We 
have had occasion to speak of several of his 
works : but there is one which we have not 
yet mentioned, and which deserves to be 
noticed. It is an abstract of his doctrine, 

^ His printed works make four volumes, folioj and a 
great number of his MSS. are also in existence. 



283 

which he addressed to Francis I., in order 
to render him favourable to the reforma- 
tion, and in reply to the accusations which 
had injured the reformers in the opinion 
of that prince; It contains a curious pas- 
sage respecting his idea of the fate re- 
served for pagans in a future life. The 
theologians of that time were of opinion, 
that the virtues of the pagans were nothing 
but splendid vices, and that, consequently, 
they would be excluded from heaven. This 
notion, though generally adopted, was 
repugnant to the heart of Zwingle, who 
could not reconcile it to the goodness of 
God. " When St. Paul (says he) affirms 
that it is impossible to please God without 
faith, Heb. xi. 6, he speaks of the unbe- 
lievers who have known the gospel, and 
have not put faith in it. I cannot believe 
that God will involve in the same con- 
demnation, him who shuts his eyes to the 
light, and him who unavoidably lives in 
darkness. I cannot believe that the Lord 
will cast away from him nations whose 
only crime it is never to have heard of the 
gospel. No, let us abjure the rashness of 



284 

setting bounds to the divine mercy. I am 
persuaded that in the heavenly assemblage 
of all the creatures admitted to contem- 
plate the glory of the Most High, we shall 
see not only the holy men of the old and 
new covenant, but also Socrates, Aristides, 
Camillus, and Cato; in a word, I am per- 
suaded that all good men, who have ful- 
filled the laws engraven on their con- 
sciences, whatever were the age or country 
in which they lived, will enter into eternal 
felicity." 

This work breathes religion of the most 
indulgent and enlightened kind, and proves 
in its author an elevated soul, and a mind 
superior to prejudice. It was the last that 
proceeded from the pen of Zwingle ; a few 
weeks after, a fatal stroke deprived his 
country of his services, and terminated his 
laborious career. When we think of all 
that he performed during his abode at Zu- 
rich, it seems as if a whole life would 
scarcely suffice for so many labours; yet 
it was in the short space of twelve years, 
that he succeeded in changing the man- 
ners, the religious ideas, and the political 



285 

principles of his adopted country, and in 
founding establishments, many of which 
have endured for three centuries. Such is 
the power of a man who is governed by a 
single purpose ; who pursues one only end, 
from which he suffers himself to be di- 
verted neither by fear, nor by seduction! 
The frivolous pleasures and amusements of 
the world occupied no place in the life of 
Zwingle; his only passion was to propa- 
gate truth, his only interest to promote its 
triumph ; this was the secret of his means, 
and his success. 

If Zwingle disdained those pleasures 
which can neither enlarge the faculties of 
the mind, nor procure real enjoy merit, he 
at least knew how" to appreciate the enjoy- 
ments of intimate society. It was in the 
midst of his friends that he sought relax- 
ation from labour. His serenity and chear- 
fulness gave a great charm to his conversa- 
tion; his temper was naturally hasty, and 
he sometimes gave way too much to his 
first feelings ; but he knew how to efface 
the painful impression that he had pro- 
duced, by a prompt and sincere return of 



^86 

kindness. Incapable of retaining the 
smallest degree of rancour from the recoil 
lection of his own faults or those of others, 
he was equally inaccessible to the senti^ 
ments of hatred, jealousy, and envy. The 
amiable qualities of his disposition gained 
him the attachment of his colleagues, who 
united around him as a common centre; 
and it is worthy of remark, that at this 
period, when all the passions were in mor 
tion, nothing ever troubled the harmony 
that prevailed among them : yet they were 
neither united by family connections, nor 
by early acquaintance • they were strangers 
attracted to Zurich by the protection afr 
forded to the reformed, or sent for by 
Zwingle, to take part in the labour of pub- 
lic instruction. They came with habits 
already formed, with ideas already fixed, 
and of an age when the ardour of youth, 
so favourable to the formation of friendr 
ships, was past; but a stronger tie than 
any other united them — their common in- 
terest in the new light that began to dawn 
over Europe. These learned men commu-? 
nicated to each other all their ideas with^ 



287 

out reserve: they consulted upon the 
works that they meditated, and sometimes 
united their talents and their knowledge 
in undertakings which would have ex- 
ceeded the powers of any one singly. The 
dangers that they had to fear for them- 
selves, the persecutions to which they saw 
their partisans exposed in the neighbour- 
ing countries, served to draw the bonds of 
their friendship still closer. In our days 
each individual seems to be connected by 
a thousand threads with all the members 
of a society; but these apparent ties have 
no real strength, and are broken by the 
first shock. The men of the 16th century 
had something m.ore masculine and more 
profound in their affections; they were 
capable of a forgetfulnjgss of self which we 
find it difficult to conceive. The friends 
with whom Zwingle had encircled himself, 
loved him with that entire devotedness 
which only belongs to strong minds : with- 
out base adulation or servile deference, 
they did homage to the superiority of his 
genius, while the reformer was far from 
abusing his ascendency over them so as to 



288 

Hiake it the means of erecting a new spi» 
ritual dictatorship on the ruins of the old 
one. 

There is nothing exaggerated in the 
morality of Zwingle. It announces a man 
who is a zealous friend of virtue, but who 
knows the world and its temptations ; who 
requires from no one a chimerical perfec- 
tion, and who, notwithstanding the seve-- 
rity of his owmmorals, preserves his indul-^ 
gence for the weakness of others. 

The more we examine the writings of 
Zwingle, and reflect on the whole tenour 
of his life, the more shall we be persuaded 
that the love of virtue and the desire of 
rendering himself useful, were the sole 
springs of his actions. " A generous 
mind," would he often say, " does not 
consider itself as belonging to itself alone, 
but to the whole human race. We are 
born to serve our fellow creatures, and by 
labouring for their happiness, even at the 
hazard of our repose or our life, we ap-: 
proach most nearly to the Deity." ' 

His whole conduct proves that these 

' Zuing. Op. T. i. f. 281, 



289 

words were the genuine expression of bis 
sentiments. If interest had swayed him, 
lie would not have been contented with a 
small income, Avhen it would have been 
easy for him to dispose of all the property 
of the church. If he had been ambitious 
of rule, he would have exacted a blind 
submission from his disciples, and v/ould 
have preserved to the clergy their former 
power; if the love of fame had moved 
him, he would have attached his name to 
his institutions; but he had nothing in 
view but the public good. A stranger to 
all personal considerations, he was wholly 
occupied in establishing the reformation, 
and appeared indifferent to his own glory. 

The purity of Zw ingle's intentions was 
often disputed during his lifetime; at 
which we ought not to be astonished. 
The contemporaries of a great man judge 
him according to their passions; and the 
reformer who dares to lay his bold hand 
upon long revered idols, cannot escape 
hatred and calumny. When Zwingle in 
his sermons thundered against the ambi- 
tious, when he threatened unjust judges 
u 



290 

with the divine anger; when he called 
forth severe measures against moral irregu- 
larities, no one dared to oppose to him an 
open resistance. He had reason, religion, 
and justice on his side, and strengthened 
by these auxiliaries, he convinced the vir- 
tuous, led the weak, and imposed silence 
on the corrupted; but these latter, though 
compelled to be silent in public, made 
themselves amends in private. They at- 
tributed to the reformer violent language 
which he had never uttered, and represented 
his actions under the most odious aspect. It 
was in great part the intrigues of the ene- 
mies of Zwingle, at Zurich, Avhich occa- 
sioned a second rupture between the catho- 
lics and protestants, of w^hich we shall 
rapidly relate the circumstances. 

The treaty of peace concluded at Cap- 
pel, in September, 1529, had put a stop to 
hostilities, but had not pacified mien's 
minds. The prevailing party in the five 
Cantons remained determined to oppose 
the progress of the refonnation. They 
had only subscribed the conditions pro- 
posed by the mediators, because they then 



t 



found tliemseh^es in no condition to con 
tend with advantage against enemies sn- 
perior in numbers, prepared for war, full 
of ardour, and perfectly united. The 
combat would have been the more unequal, 
as the reformation was not without par- 
tisans in the five Cantons, and as the peo- 
ple in general disapproved of a war in 
which there was nothing to be gained, 
and much to be lost. Neither were the 
catholics animated by the feeling of op- 
pression or persecution; no one among 
them had been disquieted for his opinions; 
they might live in the midst of the pro- 
testants \\ ithout fear of miolestation. The 
reformed, on the contrary, incurred a 
thousand dangers, when they risked them- 
selves on the territories of the catholic 
Cantons ; and some, on a simple accusation 
of heresy, had been imprisoned, tortured, 
and delivered to the executioner. They 
considered themselves as the persecuted 
party, and it is well known how much this 
idea exalts the courage of men. The 
treaty of Cappel changed the situation of 
u 2 



£92 

the two parties: it openly favoured the 
progress of protestantism, as was soon 
perceived. The towns of Basil and Schaff- 
hausen abolished the remains of popery, 
and united themselves to Zurich and Basil. 
At Claris and Appenzel, the number of 
protestants multiplied so much, as to hold 
the balance even between the two faiths. 
In the common bailiages especially, the 
reformation daily gained partisans. When 
they thought themselves sufficiently nu- 
merous, they assembled all the inhabitants 
of the place, and in virtue of the treaty, 
the majority was to decide whether they 
should preserve the mass, or adopt the 
reformation. The latter proposal had 
almost always carried it, and this general 
disposition may be easily explained. The 
reformed preachers displayed more zeal 
and talent in attack, than their adversaries 
in defence; and the protestant Cantons, 
from their geographical position, and their 
multiplied connections with the common 
subjects, had great influence over them, 
which they frequently employed to draw 



293 

over to their own party those who were 
still floating in uncertainty. The steps 
that they took for this purpose, displeased 
the five Cantons, and rendered them un- 
easy respecting the future, from an appre- 
hension that they should find neither 
respect nor submission in sectaries of a 
different faith from their own. In fact, 
it was easy to foresee, that in all contests 
the common subjects, when become pro- 
testants, would take part with Zurich and 
Bern ; and that if ever these two towns 
should wish to aggrandize themselves at 
the expense of their confederates, they 
might reckon upon the assistance of those 
w^hom a conformity of religion attached 
to their interests. The senate of Zurich 
justified these fears by indulging itself in 
several arbitrary acts in the common 
bailiages. By its own authority it dis- 
posed of the ecclesiastical property to 
furnish salaries for the reformed preach- 
ers ; and wiien the catholic Cantons com- 
plained that they had- not been consulted, 
the senate replied, that wherever the re- 
formation had been adopted, the protestant 



294 

Cantons alone bad the right of regulating 
matters relative to worship.' 

A still more serious contest soon arose 
respecting the abbey of St. Gall, which 
belonged to the Helvetic Confederacy, by 
its alliance with the Cantons of Zurich, 
Lucern, Schweitz, and Claris. The abbot 
having died in 1529, the senate of Zurich 
wanted to take advantage of this event, to 
secularise the abbey ; but the monks, sup- 
ported by Lucern and Glaris, hastened to 
choose a new abbot, and immediately put 
him in possession of all his rights.^ It 
may be imagined that the abbot exerted 
himself to put a stop to the progress of 
protestantism among his subjects, but in 
this he could not succeed; and finding 
himself surrounded on all sides by the 
reformed, he did not think himself in 
safety at St. Gall, and retired into Swabia. 
His flight appeared to the protestant party 
a confession of the illegality of his election, 
and a voluntary renunciation of his dig- 
ijity: the senate of Zurich therefore re- 

» Bull. Schw. Chr. T. iv. B. 
t Stumph. p. m. 325. b. 



Q95 

sumed the design of secularizing the abbey ; 
but it met with a strono- resistance not 
only from catholics, but also from pro- 
testants. These latter were all agreed 
upon the principle that monks consecrated 
to retirement and the divine service, were 
not fitted for the exercise of sovereignty : 
in virtue of this principle, they had de- 
prived of their secular power all the con- 
vents situated on their territory ; but as to 
the abbot of St. Gall, they regarded him 
as an allied prince, not as a subject of the 
Cantons. They also dreaded the anger of 
the emperor, who had conhrmed the elec- 
tion of the abbot, and given him inves- 
titure as a prince of the empire. After 
long debates, occasioned by this conflict 
of opposite opinions, the following decree 
was at length agreed upon as a middle 
measure; that 09i account of the 'absence of 
the abbot, the Cantons of Zurich, Lucern, 
Schweitz, and Claris, should alternately 
name a governor for a year, commissioned 
to manage the abbey in their name. This 
provisionary measure was in no manner to 
derogate from the rights of the abbot, the 



Q96 

final determinalion upon which was re- 
served till another occasion. Both parties 
adopted this arrangement in order to gain 
time, and each flattered itself with the 
hope of becoming strong enough in the 
interval to give laws to its antagonist. 
According to the decree of the four Can- 
tons, the town of Zurich was the first that 
named to the place of governor, and com- 
missioners sent by it to St. Gall consulted 
with the deputies of the municipalities on 
the organisation of the new government, 
and formed a constitution which secured 
liberty of conscience. It was agreed that 
every governor, before entering upon his 
office, should take an oath to maintain 
and observe all the articles of this con- 
stitution. 

The Cantons of Lucern and Schweitz 
would not concur in these arrangements, 
but they made no protest against them till 
the period when the governor named by 
Lucern came to replace the one sent by 
Zurich the former year. He refused to- 
take the oath required by the subjects of 
the abbey, and these refused to recognise. 



^^1 

him till he observed this form : he there- 
fore returned to Lucern, and his pre- 
decessor resumed the exercise of his 
functions. 

Upon the news of this circumstance, 
the long suppressed indignation of the five 
Cantons burst forth. They complained 
that after having acted arbitrarily in the 
common bailiages and in the states of the 
abbot of St. Gall, Zurich sought also to 
force them to approve a convention made 
without their participation, or in case of 
refusal, to exclude them from an adminis- 
tration to which they had a legal right. 
They said that Zurich had violated several 
articles of the treaty of 1529, and required 
the Cantons of Claris, Friburg, Soleure, 
SchafFhaussen, and Appenzell, to join with 
them to compel Zurich to submit to a judg- 
ment by arbitration. The senate of Zurich 
answered to the complainants, that it had 
never contested with its confederates any 
of their temporal rights ; but that it thought 
itself obliged to prevent any infraction of 
the liberty of conscience granted to the 
common subjects ; that the steps with whicli 



298 

it was reproached had no other end than 
the maintenance of this hberty, and that 
it would not suffer matters which had been 
sufficiently discussed at the time of the 
treaty of Cappel, to be brought again into 
deliberation. All attem_pts to reconcile the 
two parties were vain; toe irritation in- 
creased daily, and the event that we are 
about to relate showed to what a degree 
the catholics were incensed. 

John James Meilicis, a partisan, no- 
wise connected with the illustrious house 
of that name, had obtained of Charles V., 
in recompense of his military services, a 
small sovereignty on the banks of the lake 
of Como. He soon felt himself straightened 
in his territory, which was bounded on one 
side by the duchy of Milan, and on the 
other by the G risen leagues. The latter 
neighbour appeared to him the w^eaker, and 
consequently that at whose expense it 
would be most easy to aggrandise himself. 
He took into his pay some Spanish troops 
who were out of employment; and with- 
out seeking any pretext to cover his ag- 
gression, seized upon the Valteline, a 



Q99 

small province belonging to the Grisons, 
These, in virtue of their treaties, claimed 
the assistance of the Swiss, whom they 
found for the most part inclined to grant 
their demands : the five Cantons alone re- 
fused, alleging as a reason, the danger 
with which they were threatened by the 
protestant Cantons. 

Their refusal did not slacken the zeal 
of Zurich, Bern, Glaris, Basil, Friburg, So- 
ieure, Schaffhaussen and Appenzell, who 
marched their troops into the country of 
the Orisons; the Valteline was quickly re- 
covered ; the expedition was crowned w ith 
complete success, and the campaign termi- 
nated in a few months. 

It may easily be imagined how gTeat 
was the indignation excited among all the 
confederates by the conduct of the five 
Cantons. Ifi the catholics acted thus 
towards an ally against wdiom they had no 
cause of complaint, what were the protes- 
tant cantons to expect in case of being 
attacked? Had they not reason to believe 
that designs were meditated against them ^ 



300 

Other circumstances corroborated these 
fears. 

The persecutions of the protestants re- 
commenced with more fury than ever ; it 
seemed as if the cathoHcs, assured of some 
powerful support, thought themselves ex- 
cused from keeping any measures. The 
victims of their intolerance loudly implored 
the protection of Zurich, and they found in 
Zwingle an advocate equally zealous and 
eloquent. ^' These are Swiss," said he, 
" whom a faction is attempting to deprive of 
a portion of the liberty transmitted to them 
by their ancestors. If it would be unjust to 
attempt to force our adversaries to abolish 
the catholic religion from among them; 
it is no less so to imprison, to banish, and 
to deprive citizens of their property, be- 
cause their consciences have urged them to 
embrace opinions Avhich they think true."" 
The representations of Zwingle were not 
fruitless. The senate did not content it- 
self with giving an asylum to persecuted 
pr<)testants, it interceded for them with 

"^ BuU. Schw. Chr. T. iv. D. 



301 

cliiFerent Cantons, and claimed the obser- 
vation of the treaty of Cappel^ which ex- 
pressly forbade all constraint in matters of 
religion. Unfortunately, ' the article on 
which the protestants founded their claims 
was conceived in equivocal terms, which 
each might interpret to his own advantage. 
One party wanted unlimitted liberty of 
conscience; the other regarded themselves 
as no longer independent the moment to- 
leration was exacted from them.. It was 
impossible to reconcile claims so opposite, 
and the diets assembled to appease men's 
minds, only served to inflame them the 
more. At Zurich the people were per- 
suaded that the greater part of the inhabit- 
ants Avould consent to terms if they were 
not led astray by the adversaries of Zwingle, 
Avho took advantage of the delay in the 
negociations to augment the number of 
their partisans. On this supposition, the 
zealous friends of the reformation desired 
that a frank exposure of their intentions 
respecting liberty of conscience should be 
required of the catholics; and they also 
Vvdshed to know whether, on occasion of 



302 

an attack from a foreign power, the re- 
formed might depend on the assistance 
of their allies. In case of an evasive an- 
swer, they thought it would be better to 
declare war immediately, than to prolong 
the painful distrust in which they lived, 
and give the enemy time to augment 
their forces. This opinion, which Avas 
approved by Zurich, was blamed by the 
other Cantons. They did not judge the 
danger pressing, and wished to make one 
further trial before hostilities were com- 
menced. This trial consisted in stopping 
the provisions of the five Cantons, and 
breaking off all communication with them, 
that the catholics might feel how much 
need they had of their reformed neigh- 
bours, and thus become disposed to a 
speedy accommodation. In vain did the 
senate of Zurich combat this proposal; in 
vain did the reformer himself represent, 
that it would be cruel to reduce a whole 
population to famine, and that by such 
means the catholics would be irritated and 
not softened; his representations were 
neglected, and the senate of Zurich found 



303 

itself at length obliged to assent to the 
proposal of its alUes. The protestants 
therefore addressed to the catholics a ma- 
nifesto containing a long enumeration of 
their grievances, and ending with these 
words : " Since you observe neither your 
ancient engagements nor your recent pro- 
mises, and snice you daily give us new 
subjects of complaint, we should be jus- 
tified in doing ourselves right by force of 
arms. We v/ill not however yet proceed 
to this extremity; but from this time we 
forbid you to frequent our public markets, 
we refuse you the passage of provisions 
through our territor;y, and we interdict jGut 
subjects from all communication with yoiL 
We shall continue these measures until you 
shall have given us satisfaction, and until 
we shall know whether it is your intention 
to acquit yourselves for the future, of the 
obligations imposed upon you by our an- 
cient alliances." 

This menace was soon followed by its 
execution, and the five Cantons suddenly 
saw themselves blockaded on all sides. In 
order to understand the odious nature of 



304 

the measure announced by the manifesto, 
it should be known, that the inhabitants of 
this part of Switzerland, having no other 
resource than their flocks, were obliged to 
import provisions of the first necessity, and 
a number of other indispensable articles. 
It was principally Zurich and Bern that 
furnished them w^ith these commodities, or 
at least it was in the markets of these towns 
that they supplied themselves; and the 
situation of their country rendered any 
other communication difficult to them, if 
not impracticable. The eifects of this 
blockade w^ere quickly felt, and they af- 
fected the poor still more than the rich. 
What Zwingle had predicted took place. 
One general cry of indignation arose 
among all the inhabitants of the five Can- 
tons. Even those who had laboured to 
restore peace, now renounced their pacific 
intentions; all persuaded themselves that 
the protestants had designs against their 
independence; and this suspicion deter- 
mined them to submit to the most painful 
privations, rather than subscribe the con- 
ditions attempted to be imposed upon them. 



305 

\ 
War would immediately have broken out, 

liad not the cathohc leaders found their 
advantage in delay. They knew that their 
adversaries were not agreed among them- 
selves, and by retarding the moment of 
attack, they hoped to augment their divi- 
sions. The protestants had flattered them- 
selves that the mere threat of interrupting 
their communications would render their 
enemies more tractable; but the resolute 
countenance of the catholics, which they 
Av^ere far from expecting, disconcerted them. 
They began to load each other with re- 
proaches; some complained that, instead of 
striking a decisive stroke, measures had 
been taken which gave new strenoth to the 
enemy; others accused Zwingle of kindling 
a civil Vv^ar by his zeal in defending all the 
persecuted; and the catholics attempted 
to stir up discontents against the reformer, 
by repeating that he alone, and his decla- 
mations, had been the cause of all the dis- 
sensions that troubled Switzerland, and 
that, but for this apostle of discord, all the 
points in dispute miglit easily be settled. 

^ rive him of 

X 



S06 

the confidence of his fellow-citizens, and 
destroy the effect of his wise and energetic 
councils, and they in part succeeded. So 
many interests thwarted by the reformation, 
so many passions repressed by severe laws, 
so many vices censured without reserve, 
had indisposed many persons against 
Zwingle. All who regretted their former 
resources, their former pleasures, their 
former enjoyments, eagerly welcomed the 
calumnies circulated respecting him, and 
attributed to him the ill-success of the 
measures taken by the government, even 
though he had disapproved of them. 
Zwingle perceived the efforts made to 
bring him into disesteem, but he could not 
defend himself, because this malevolence 
was concealed, and only acted in secret. 
Fearing that he could no longer usefully 
exercise the duties of his office, he took 
the resolution of quitting Zurich. In the 
month of July he appeared before the se- 
nate, and thus addressed them. " For 
eleven years I have announced to you the 
Gospel in all its purity: as became a faith- 
ful pastor, I have spared neither exhorta- 



507 

tions, nor reprimands, nor warnings; I have 
represented to you on many occasions how 
great a misfortune it would be to all Swit- 
zerland that you should again allow your- 
selves to be guided by those whose am- 
bition is their God. You have made no 
account of my remonstrances; I see intro- 
duced into the council, men destitute of 
morality and religion, who have nothing 
in view but their own interest; who are 
enemies of evangelical doctrine, and zeal- 
ous partisans of our adversaries. These 
are the men who are now listened to, and 
who have the sole direction of affairs. As 
long as you act in this manner, no good is 
to be hoped for; and since it is to me that 
all our misfortunes are attributed, though 
none of my counsels are followed, I de- 
mand my dismission, and will go and seek 
an asylum elsewhere." 

This unexpected address confounded 
almost equally the friends and the ene- 
mies of Zw ingle. Before the latter had 
recovered from their astonishment, the 
senate named a deputation, which was 
commissioned to wait upon the reformer, 
X 2 



308 

and entreat him not to desert his flock. 
All the tenderness of friendship, and all 
the ardour of patriotism, were employed in 
vain by the deputies. Seeing Zwingle in- 
exorable, they then forcibly represented 
the blow that the reformation would sus- 
tain from his quitting Zurich, the principal 
seat of protestantism in Switzerland. This 
consideration overbalanced all his objec- 
tions; he yielded to their erxtreaties, and 
three days after, he again appeared before 
the grand council, thanked them for the 
testimonies of attachment that he had re- 
ceived from them, and promised that to his 
latest hour, he would devote himself en- 
tirely to the good of their country. 

The entreaties employed by the senate 
to retain Zwingle at Zurich, prove the high 
opinion generally entertained of his merit : 
they prove at the same time, that the 
reformer had given the senate no cause of 
complaint. In fact, his conduct alwa3^s 
bore the strongest stamp of fidelity towards 
iiis sovereioii, and his measures all tended 
to fortify the authority of government. 
It will be remembered, that it \vas he wlio , 



309 

prevailed upon the religious communities 
of Zurich to renounce their secular rights ; 
it was he also who desired the abolitioii of 
those privileges which made the clergy a 
state within a state. He never introduced 
any change in public worship, without 
first submitting it to the deliberation of 
the council; and he was never known to 
take advantage of his ascendency to extort a 
consent which Jie could not obtain by per- 
suasion. When the extravagancies of the 
anabaptists caused a dangerous fermenta- 
tion, and threatened the dissolution of so^ 
ciety, Zwingle had the greatest share in the 
reestablishment of order. The same spirit 
which directed his actions, is found in his 
writings, where it would be in vain to 
search for a single word favourable to 
anarchy. In his private letters, where he 
expresses himself with the unreserve of 
the most perfect intimidcy, he recommends 
to his friends a submission to established 
government, whatever may be its form; 
and he continually reminds them, that the 
christian religion, far from weakening the 
bonds which unite subjects to their sove- 



310 

reign, gives them an additional sanction. 
The whole life of Zwingie proves, that he 
never attempted to excite the multitude 
to revolt, or to propagate seditious doc- 
trines—a reproach often brought against 
reformers. It would be easy in the same 
respect to justify Luther, Melancthon, 
Oecolampadius, Calvin, and many other 
celebrated theologians of the l6th century. 
No doubt some turbulent men have been 
found among those who called themselves 
partisans of the reformation, whose con- 
duct and principles were blameable; but 
they have always been disavowed by the 
reformers; and the liberty of conscience 
claimed by the latter, has nothing in com- 
mon either with a licentiousness which 
would banish all laws, or with chimerical 
theories which tend to the overthrow of 
empires. 

Zwingie then remained at Zurich, and 
laboured without ceasing to reconcile ani- 
mosities ; but he was unable to restore the 
ancient harmony. The council was di- 
vided into two parties, which continually 
thwarted each other: when one proposed 



311 

a vigorous measure, the other represented 
it as a declaration of war, and caused it to 
be rejected. The irresolution of the coun- 
cil filled the citizens Avdth uneasiness, and 
lessened their submission ; for the vacilla- 
tion of a government destroys all con- 
fidence, and orders given with hesitation 
are ill obeyed. Uncertain whether it 
would be better to purchase peace by con- 
cessions, or to conquer it by arms, the ma- 
gistrates settled in nothing. Zwingle con- 
ceived from this uncertainty a sinister 
presage as well for the public cause, as for 
himself in particular; but neither his own 
fears for the future, nor those of his friends 
for his person, could abate his courage. 
"In vain," he writes to one of them, " do 
you attempt to divert me from my career, 
by reminding me of the tragical end of 
those who have pieceded me; your pre- 
dictions cannot inspire me with dismay; I 
will not deny my Saviour before men, that 
he may not deny me before my Heavenly 
Father and the Angels. He also died for 
the truth who was truth itself Shall I 
leinind you of the apostles, the crowd of 



312 

martyrs among the first christiarxS? They 
all fell under the strokes of their enemies, 
but what they taught will nevertheless re- 
main eternally true. Whatever may be 
my fate, I know that truth will triumph, 
even when my bones shall long have been 
reduced to dust."'' 

His courage increased with the danger; 
if he felt inquietude, it was not for himself, 
but for the fate of protestantism; and here 
a deep conviction of the goodness of his 
cause supported him. " We ought to re- 
gard ourselves," would he often say, " as 
instruments in the hand of the Most High. 
We may be broken, but his will shall 
nevertheless be accomplished. Let us 
shun neither the dangers nor the suffer- 
ings necessary to reestablish Christianity 
in its ancient purity, even though we our- 
selves should never enjoy its restoration, 
but should resemble those warriors whose 
eyes have closed for ever before they have 
beheld the victory purchased by their 
blood. There is a God in heaven who 
beholds and judges the combatants; there 

* Zuinglii. et Oecol. Epist. f. 76. 



313 

are men on earth who will rea^ the fruit 
of our lahours, Avhenwe shall have obtained 
their recompence in a better world." 

The friends of Zwingle shared his sen- 
timents, but they were unable to inspire 
them into their fellow-citizens. Yielding 
and resisting by turns, and both unoppor- 
tunely, the reformed continued to commit 
fault upon fault. They depended upon 
the mediation of the neutral Cantons, and 
consented to all propositions of peace, in 
order to avoid the reproach of having pro- 
voked the war; but the more they demon- 
strated their anxiety for peace, the more 
exacting did their adversaries become. By 
dint of concessions on the part of the pro- 
testants, they came to an agreement upon 
all points, except that of liberty of con- 
science, which the senate of Zurich would 
not give up. " While only temporal inte- 
rests arc in question," said they, '' we may 
make sacrifices to the love of peace; but 
to permit error to recover by violence the- 
ground that it has been obliged to yield to 
truth — to suffer men to perish to v\diom v/e 
iiave promised succour and protection, 



514 

would be to fail iii the duties of religion 
and of honour." Nothing could shake the 
resolution of the senate on this head; the 
five Cantons equally persisted in their op- 
position, and they prepared to open by 
force the communication which had been 
interrupted. By keeping a strict watch 
over the persons suspected of intelligence 
with the reformed, they concealed their 
preparations from the enemy, wnile them- 
selves were informed by their spies of the 
hesitation of the protestants, and of the 
disunion that prevailed among them.^ 

The mediators made a last effort to re- 
concile the two parties, and proposed to 
them to submit their grievances to the de- 
cision of arbitrators named by the neutral 
Cantons, with the addition of the cities of 
Strasburg and Constance. . The two pro- 
testant cities consented, though with re- 
luctance, but the catholics refused to listen 
to any proposition that was not preceded 
by raising the blockade. The terms em- 
ployed by them in their answer were so 
threatening, that the mediators regarded 

^ Gualth. Apol. pro Zuinglio. 



315 

them as a declaration of war, and on trans- 
mitting them to the reformed, advised 
them to be on their guard. The five Can- 
tons having finished their preparations 
and united their troops, published their 
manifesto on the 6th of October, 1531, 
and took the field. Fifteen hundred of 
the troops of Lucern marched the same 
day for Bremgarten, to prevent the junc- 
tion of the forces of Zurich and those of 
Bern, and their chief strength took the 
direction of Cappel. The news of these 
movements reached Zurich in the begin- 
ning of the night : the senate immediately 
assembled, but such was their blindness, 
that they still doubted of the hostile inten- 
tion of the catholics, and instead of calling 
the inhabitants to arms, contented them- 
selves with sending two commissioners to 
Cappel and Bremgarten to reconnoitre. 
The assembling of the council at an unac- 
customed hour produced however a great 
agitation in the town, and it was increased 
the next day by the multiplied messages 
of peasants who had taken arms to defend 
the frontiers, and seeing; no succours ar- 



316 

rive, inquired whether their government 
wished to expose them to certain death. 

The council, for fear of being accused 
a second time of too much precipitation, 
would take no resolution before the return 
of their commissioners. These, judging 
their presence necessary at Cappel, re, 
mained there, and dispatched a courier to 
Zurich to announce the approach of the 
enemy. This information filled those with 
terror who had refused to believe in the 
possibility of a v\^ar, and who always ex- 
pected proposals of peace from the five Can- 
tons. The veil which had concealed their 
danger fell off at once, and consternation 
succeeded to securit}^ The fcv/ troops 
quartered in the town were hastily dis- 
patched for Gappel and Eremgarten, and 
orders were given to sound the tocsin and 
assemble the militia of the Canton. This 
measure did not produce the effect that 
was expected. Some ill-intentioned people 
raised a report that the danger was not so 
pressing as v/as pretended, and that the 
council itself was not agreed upon what 
was to be done; and they thus slackened 



317 

the zeal of the peasantry, and augmented 
the uncertainty and distrust. 

According to a decree of the council, 
a body of four thousand men was to repair 
to Cappel on the 10th of October; but no 
dispositions were made ; nothing had been 
foreseen; there were no horses for the 
conveyance of artillery; and stores, and 
above all, men, were deficient. At noon, 
instead of four thousand soldiers, only 
seven hundred were under their colours; 
and at the same time advice was received 
tliat the division posted at Cappel was 
weakened every hour by skirmishes, and 
could not resist the general attack with 
which it was threatened. In this critical 
situation, the commander named by the 
senate thou2:ht it better to march with 
only a handful of men, than to await the 
uncertain arrival of the militia. Zvvdngle 
received orders^ to accompany him. He 
had been designated for this oifice by com- 
mon consent; those who were attached to 
him thought that his presence would elec- 
trify the troops ; his secret enemies, know- 
ing his courage, hoped that he would not 



518 

escape the dangers to which he would be 
exposed. Zwingle himself dared not ex- 
pect a happy issue to this expedition; but 
he thought it his duty to obey the orders 
of his superiors, without urging any ob- 
jections. Calm himself in the midst of 
friends who trembled for his life, he en- 
deavoured to arm them with resignation. 
" Our cause is good, " said he, '' but it is 
ill-defended. It will cost my life, and that 
of a number of excellent men who would 
wish to restore religion to its primitive 
simplicity, and our country to its ancient 
manners. No matter! God will not aban- 
don his servants; he will come to their 
assistance when you think all lost. My 
confidence rests upon him alone, and not 
upon men ; I submit myself to his will." "^ 

Such was the farewell of Zwingle to his 
friends: he pressed their hands for the last 
time, and advanced to meet the stroke 
destined to end his career. Cappel is only 
three leagues from Zurich; but the road 
crosses Mount Albis, and its rapid descent 
impeded the march of the infantry, who 

» Bull, Schw. Chr. T. iv. H. 



319 

were burdened with heavy armour. In the 
meanthne the roaring of distant cannon 
announced that the battle was begun. 
Zwingle, impatient to fly to the assistance 
of his fellow-citizens, proposed to the 
officers to increase the speed of their horses. 
" Let us hasten our march," said he, '' or 
we shall perhaps arrive too late. As for 
me, I will go and join my brethren — I will 
assist in saving them, or we will die toge- 
ther." The words of Zwingle prevailed 
with the leaders, and filled them with a 
noble enthusiasm. They ordered their 
soldiers to follow them, and pushed forward. 
About three in the afternoon, they reached 
the field of battle. The catholics, to the 
number of about eight thousand, seeing the 
enemy advantageously posted, and ignorant 
of their force, would not hazard a general en- 
gagement, but contented themiselves with 
keeping up a continual fire of artillery. At 
the moment Zwingle reached his country- 
men, an officer of the Canton of Uri, at the 
head of three hundred volunteers, ap- 
proached to reconnoitre. He perceived the 



320 

weakness of the Zurichers, and the insuf- 
ficiency of the reinforcement they had re- 
ceived, and immediately resolved to attack 
them. As soon as the catholics saw that 
battle was joined, their whole army put it- 
self in motion. The Zurichers, scarcely 
1500 in number, animated by the exhorta- 
tions of Zwingle, defended themselves at 
first with success, and were even able to 
repulse the enemy; but the removal of a 
batter}^ disturbed their arrangements. Of 
this the catholics took advantage; they pe- 
netrated through a small ^vood which the 
Zurichers had neglected to cut down or to 
occupy, and turned their position. A part 
of the rear guard, fearing to l}e cut off, 
took to flight; some of the enemy's spies 
joined this body, and increased the con- 
fusion by raising a cry of treachery. The 
officers vainly endeavoured to restore 
order; they were unable to procure obedi- 
ence, and the rout soon became general. 
Those who fought in the first ranks all 
died at their posts, and the rest dispersed. . 
In the beginning of the battle, while. 



321 

Zwingle was encouraging the troops by 
his exhortations, he received a mortal 
wound, fell in the press, and remained 
senseless on the field of battle while the 
enemy were pursuing their victory. On 
recovering his consciousness, he raised 
himself with difficulty, crossed his feeble 
hands upon his breast, and lifted his dying 
eyes to heaven. Some catholic soldiers 
who had remained behind, found him in 
this attitude. Without knowing him, they 
offered him a confessor: Zwingle would 
have replied, but was unable to articulate; 
he refused by a motion of the head. The 
soldiers then exhorted him to recommend 
his soul to the Holy Virgin. A second 
sign of refusal enraged them. '^ Die then, 
obstinate heretic ! " cried one, and pierced 
him with his sword.^ 

It was not till the next day that the 

^ These particulars were afterwards learned from 
some peasants who recognised Zwingle the moment he 
was killed. VideGualth. in Apol. Zuinghi. — Mycomius 
in vita Zuinglii. 

Y 



3^2 

body of the reformer was found, and ex- 
posed to the view of the army. Among 
those whom curiosity attracted, several had 
knov^n him, and without sharing his reli- 
gious opinions, had admired his eloquence, 
and done justice to the uprightness of his 
intentions : these were unable to view his 
features, which death had not changed, 
without emotion. A former colleague of 
Zwingle's, who had left Zurich on account 
of the reformation, was among the crowd. 
He gazed a long time upon him who had 
been his adversary, and at length said with 
emotion, *' Whatever may have been thy 
faith, I am sure that thou wast always sin- 
cere, and that thou lovedst thy country. 
May God take thy soul to his mercy!" 

Far from sharing in this sentiment of 
compassion, the soldiers rejoiced in the 
death of a man whom they considered as 
the principal support of heresy; and they 
tumultuously surrounded the bloody corpse 
of the reformer. Amid the ebullitions of 
their fanatical joy, some voices were heard 
to pronounce the words, " Let us burn the 



523 

remains of the heresiarch." All applauded 
the proposal: in vain did their leaders re- 
mind the furious soldiery of the respect 
due to the dead; in vain did they exhort 
them not to irritate the protestants, who 
might one day avenge the insult; all was 
useless. They seized the body ; a tribunal, 
named by acclamation, ordered that it 
should be burned, and the ashes scattered 
to the winds; and the sentence was exe- 
cuted the same instant. 

Thus did Zwingle terminate his career, 
at the age of forty-seven years. The news 
of his death filled his friends with the utmost 
consternation. The secret partisans of the 
Romish Church at Zurich began again to 
raise their heads, and to attribute the mis- 
fortunes of their country to the changes 
introduced by the reformer. Confusion 
arrived at its height, and military opera- 
tions were conducted accordingly. The 
fluctuations of the council, the want of har 
mony between the leaders and their sol- 
diers, and the tardiness and insufficiency of 
the measures taken for the continuance of 
y 2 



3U 

the war, occasioned several other reverses ; 
and two months after the affair of Cappel, 
the towns of Zurich and Bern both found 
themselves obliged to make a separate 
peace. These new treaties annulled those 
of 159,9, and gave a decided superiority to 
the enemies of the reformation. 

It then appeared as if all Switzerland 
was about to relapse into popery; but the 
predictions by which Zwingle had endea- 
voured to keep up the courage of his 
friends at parting, soon began to be real- 
ised. When the first emotion of terror 
was past, they blushed to have believed 
that the fate of their cause was attached 
to the life of a single man. Animated by 
his spirit, they laboured to revive hope, 
and to appease animosities, and they suc^ 
ceeded in restoring tranquillity. 

The establishments founded by the re- 
former became the source of new pros- 
perity. The love of peace, order, and 
justice, succeeded to ambition, covetous- 
ness, and vengeance, which had so often 
disturbed their internal concord. An 



325 



active chanty, a patriarchal simplicity, 
wise laws, and manners still more powerful 
than laws, formed the noble legacy be- 
queathed by Zwingle to his country. 



THE END. 



T. Benslsy, Trhiter, 
lijtii Court, I'leei Street, Loniton^ 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



022 013 872 



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